London arts hub the Southbank Centre has pulled its advertising from the Daily Mail after a Richard Littlejohn column urged readers: “Please don’t pretend two dads is the new normal.”
The piece, which was described by many readers on Twitter as “homophobic”, was in response to the news that Olympic diver Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Black are having a child via a surrogate.
“Before the usual suspects start bouncing up and down, squealing ‘homophobia’, don’t bother,” wrote Littlejohn, adding: “I still cling to the belief that children benefit most from being brought up by a man and a woman.”
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
This is what homophobic, transphobic, discriminatory, bigoted hate speech looks like. This is what readers of and advertisers in the @DailyMailUK continue to support, day after day. This is unacceptable. Shame on you Richard Littlejohn.#DailyMail ??
February 16, 2018
I love that Richard Littlejohn’s gone with “two dads aren’t normal.” Jesus had two dads, dude. https://t.co/mTLiGbp9qE
If you trained a neural network to spew homophobic bile you’d get this piece by Richard Littlejohn. https://t.co/1TmjLZCxZf
If you trained a neural network to spew homophobic bile you’d get this piece by Richard Littlejohn. https://t.co/1TmjLZCxZf
Online campaign group Stop Funding Hate called out the London venue – which is the UK’s largest arts centre – for advertising with the newspaper following Littlejohn’s column.
In response, a spokesperson for the Southbank Centre told HuffPost UK: “We reach out to audiences through wide-ranging online and offline media titles, across the political spectrum. We monitor the environment in which our advertising appears, to ensure the values of the publication are compatible with our own.
“We have no future plans to advertise within the Daily Mail.”
The venue is an ardent supporter of LGBT+ rights and threw a huge wedding party to celebrate the Gay Marriage Act in 2013. During the Big Wedding Weekend, 70 couples, both gay and straight, got married or renewed their vows.
Response to the move has been largely positive. Ian Evans wrote: “That’s very good to hear. Really well done on taking the issue as seriously as it is. Many companies just hope the issue will go away, but it never will whilst papers run such relentless bullying campaigns against minorities.”
“Thank you for listening,” wrote another user, while Gary Wales said: “Thank you! I would not have booked at Southbank in future (and I frequently buy tickets to your events) had you’d not responded in this way.”
“That’s my membership renewed for another year,” wrote Johno, while Alan Henness added: “Congratulations on doing the RIGHT THING.”
Stop Funding Hate founder Richard Wilson said: “The Daily Mail is increasingly out of touch with the views of mainstream British society – and it’s no surprise that more and more advertisers are distancing themselves.
That’s very good to hear. Really well done on taking the issue as seriously as it is. Many companies just hope the issue will go away, but it never will whilst papers run such relentless bullying campaigns against minorities. pic.twitter.com/N8KQd9OpMT
February 16, 2018
Thank you! I would not have booked at SB in future (and I frequently buy tickets to your events) had you’d not responded in this way.
“A recent YouGov poll found that 58% of people believe that companies should withdraw their advertising if it is placed next to content they think is racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic. The same poll found that barely 10% of people believe that the Daily Mail has a positive influence on our society.
“The South Bank Centre are to be commended for responding promptly to their members’ concerns.”
Quorn, Suzuki, Iceland, Carpetright, NatWest and the Co-op were also identified as advertisers with the newspaper.
A spokesman for Co-op said: “We’ve consulted with our members on this matter and the current view of the majority is that it’s not right for us to use advertising spend to influence editorial. During this discussion with our members it also became clear that they wanted our advertising in these publications to reflect and promote our values even more strongly, the most recent being our campaign to tackle modern slavery.”
We take this issue extremely seriously. This is not content sponsored by us. Our ads are served up through a 3rd party and we are investigating why they have appeared here. DR
February 16, 2018
NatWest tweeted: “We take this issue extremely seriously. This is not content sponsored by us. Our ads are served up through a third party and we are investigating why they have appeared here.”
A spokeswoman for frozen food giant Iceland said the brand: “Will continue to advertise where we are able to reach significant numbers of our customers. We will naturally review where we place our advertising if our customers stop buying any particular newspaper because they do not approve of its editorial content.”
The Daily Mail has been contacted for comment.