channel Ikea, Octopus Energy, cider firm Kopparberg, and other brands have withdrawn advertising from GB News after the channel’s launch on Sunday. Kopparberg said the advert ran “without our knowledge” and it absolutely was undertaking a review of the channel’s content. Octopus said it’d only run ads in the future if the news channel proved “genuinely balanced”. The network has vowed to fight “cancel culture” and reflect voices not heard within the media. But it’s faced criticism from campaigners just like the group Stop Funding Hate, who say its launch brings highly partisan Fox News-style programming to the UK. Former BBC political presenter Andrew Neil, who is chairman of GB News, has dismissed the Fox News comparisons as “nonsense”. A post on the Kopparberg Twitter account said: “Kopparberg could also be a drink for everyone which we’ve immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content.” Greg Jackson, founding father of Octopus Energy, said the company doesn’t advertise on “platforms whose primary purpose is that the distribution of hate” and said it’d only run adverts on new channels after watching their output for a period of it slow. Ikea said it had suspended its advertising and had not knowingly booked slots on the channel. It said it had safeguards to prevent ads appearing on platforms that don’t seem to be in line with the company’s “humanistic values”. The Open University and Ovo Energy also said they were pausing advertising, which they said had been placed by a media partnership without their knowledge. As chairman and a presenter, Neil has promised to challenge the “echo chamber” of the “metropolitan” news. In a gap monologue to viewers on Sunday night, Neil said GB News would aim to “puncture the pomposity of our elites in politics, business, media and academia and expose their growing promotion of cancel culture for the threat to free speech and democracy that it is”. Cancel culture could be a plan generally promoted by right-leaning commentators that activists, totally on the left, are seeking to suppress free expression by permanently shaming and ostracising individuals deemed to possess transgressions. Some commentators associate it with “woke” culture – an entail increased alertness to social injustice, particularly around racism – that some on the right of politics feel has strayed into stifling correctness. The weaponization of canceled culture Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator which Neil is additionally chairman of, told BBC News that Kopparberg’s boycott may lead to a consumer backlash. “Cancel culture isn’t popular. If Kopparberg is clever enough to sell cider to the nation (who have the only apples on earth) then it should be clever enough to grasp its mistake. we should always expect a clarification soon. “Being ‘for everyone should mean being for everyone.” Press-Gazette reported that other companies and organizations including Nivea and drinks brand Grolsch had also distanced themselves from the news channel within 48 hours of its launch. Promoting a personality-led approach, the GB News presenting line-up includes ex-BBC host Simon McCoy, ITV veteran Alastair Stewart, and ex-Sun journalist Dan Wootton. Topics discussed on Wootton’s Dan’s Digest segment have included the UK’s lockdown extension, taking the knee, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Speaking to BBC News on Tuesday, Richard Wilson, director of media group Stop Funding Hate, said that the immediate controversial tone meant “it’s no surprise” that a reputable brand like Kopparberg is “stepping away, and refusing to align with this”. The group has begun compiling a list of brands advertising on the fledgling channel – urging its 120,000 followers on Twitter to exert pressure on them on social media. GB News is on the market on Freeview channel 236 additionally as other platforms including Sky, Virgin Media, and Freesat.
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