A number of big-name brands have pulled their advertising from GB News just days after the new station’s launch.
Furniture giants Ikea, energy provider Octopus and the cider Kopparberg are among those who have withdrawn their advertising from Andrew Neil’s new TV venture.
GB News was controversial from the moment it was first announced, with campaign group Stop Funding Hate sending the hashtag #DontFundGBNews to various brands as far back as February.
Chairman Andrew Neil dismissed this as “hilarious” at the time, but several brands have now cut their advertising with GB News.
After ads for Ikea were shown earlier in the week, the Swedish company insisted that they had “not knowingly” advertised with GB News.
“We are in the process of investigating how this may have occurred to ensure it won’t happen again in future, and have suspended paid display advertising in the meantime,” an Ikea rep said.
“IKEA has not knowingly advertised on GB News. We have safeguards in place to prevent our advertising from appearing on platforms that are not in line with our humanistic values and vision to side with the many people.
2/3— IKEA UK Support (@IKEAUKSupport) June 15, 2021
We are in the process of investigating how this may have occurred to ensure it won’t happen again in future, and have suspended paid display advertising in the meantime.”
3/3— IKEA UK Support (@IKEAUKSupport) June 15, 2021
Similarly, a tweet posted on Kopparberg’s account earlier this week said: “We want to make it clear to everyone that our ad ran on this channel without our knowledge or consent.
“Kopparberg is a drink for everyone and we have immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content.”
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We want to make it clear to everyone that our ad ran on this channel without our knowledge or consent. Kopparberg is a drink for everyone and we have immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content
— kopparberguk (@KopparbergUK) June 14, 2021
Greg Jackson, the founder of Octopus Energy, also shared a statement insisting he would only continue to advertise with GB News if they could prove their impartiality.
As promised…
This is the letter I've sent to customers who emailed.
Summary: Ad slots were not planned by us. We'll monitor any new channels (including this) before running ads and will only advertise if balanced and meets our policies. pic.twitter.com/YInlVubN52— Greg Jackson (@g__j) June 15, 2021
The Open University has also paused its advertising with GB News, according to PA News.
Andrew Neil hit back at Ikea’s decision in a tweet posted late on Tuesday night:
IKEA has decided to boycott GB News because of our alleged values. Here are IKEA’s values — a French CEO who is a criminal with a two year suspended jail sentence for spying on staff. https://t.co/Z82CvME7pY
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) June 15, 2021
GB News launched on Sunday night with a monologue from Andrew Neil, who set out the station’s agenda to “puncture the pomposity of our elites in politics, business, media and academia” and “expose the growing promotion of cancel culture for the threat to free speech and democracy that it is”.
While launch night beat rivals BBC News and Sky News in the ratings, it received a rather muted response on social media due to its production values.
