A growing list of companies are pulling ads from Britain’s Daily Mail following a homophobic column by Richard Littlejohn blasting Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black for sharing an ultrasound photo of their baby on Valentine’s Day and having the gall to raise a child.
Said Littlejohn in the article: “I supported civil partnerships long before it was fashionable and I’d rather children were fostered by loving gay couples than condemned to rot in state-run institutions, where they face a better-than-average chance of being abused.That said, and despite the fact that countless single parents do a fantastic job, I still cling to the belief that children benefit most from being brought up by a man and a woman. Please don’t pretend two dads is the new normal”
He added: “What I also find slightly disconcerting is that this story was reported virtually everywhere without so much as a raised eyebrow, as if it would be impolite even to ask any questions about the parentage. For instance, is Daley or his husband the father? Was it Bill, or was it Ben? Or neither of them? More pertinently, never mind Who’s The Daddy? Who’s The Mummy?”
Today's Daily Mail advertisers include @southbankcentre @SuzukiCarsUK @Honda @coopuk @Plusnet @BootsUK @Carpetright @IcelandFoods @DFS @Morrisons #thecoopway #startspreadinglove #stopfundinghate pic.twitter.com/CJM4CWLPAs
— Stop Funding Hate (@StopFundingHate) February 16, 2018
Among the companies that have taken action after being called out for advertising with the Daily Mail on Twitter: Natwest, Centre Parcs, Southbank Centre, and EA (Electronic Arts).
We monitor the environment in which our advertising appears, to ensure the values of a publication are compatible with our own. We have no future plans to advertise within the Daily Mail. 2/2
— Southbank Centre (@southbankcentre) February 16, 2018
1/2 We take where we advertise very seriously and have a number of steps to prevent our advertising from appearing alongside inappropriate content. We felt this placement was completely unacceptable and therefore ceased advertising with the Daily Mail with immediate effect.
— Center Parcs UK (@CenterParcsUK) February 16, 2018
Hey Sarah – We wanted to reach out and thank you for bringing this to our attention earlier this morning. We've worked with our teams throughout the day to ensure that the placement of any advertisement is not done parallel to messages that go against our values.
— EA UK (@electronicarts) February 16, 2018
At NatWest we have a proud tradition of supporting our LGBT customers and colleagues. We take these issues very seriously and have multiple measures in place to try and ensure our material doesn’t appear next to content which is 1/2
— NatWest (@NatWest_Help) February 17, 2018
obscene, illegal or is at odds with our values. We don’t support the content in this article, and are investigating how our advertising has appeared here. Meanwhile we have stopped our TV ad from featuring on this page. 2/2 DR
— NatWest (@NatWest_Help) February 17, 2018
