M&S responds to our campaign about advertising in the Daily Mail
By: kahra wayland-larty
Date: 5 June 2017
Thanks to thousands of people putting pressure on Marks & Spencer to stop funding the Daily Mail, we finally received a letter from M&S CEO, Steve Rowe.
It’s not exactly what we’d hoped for, but it’s good to know we’re on his radar.
“As you know, all media outlets set their own editorial tone and are free to be editorially independent without interference or pressure from business or organisations who pay to use such outlets to reach customers.
At M&S, customers are at the heart of our strategy and we aim to reach as many of our customers as possible when we are advertising our products and services. As such, we advertise across the media outlets that are mostly widely read by our customers and have no current plan to change this.”.”
We haven’t stopped M&S funding the Daily Mail just yet. But this letter is proof that they are listening.
Why we won’t take no for an answer
Our campaign is not about impeding press freedom. The issue at stake is a moral one. Xenophobic media reporting has very real consequences in legitimising racism in society and it’s vital that everyone who is in a position to take a stand does so.
We also expect M&S to live by its value of integrity and ‘doing the right thing’. Many M&S customers will be personally affected by hateful reporting found in the Daily Mail, M&S should consider their needs when they talk about the needs of their customers.
