'M&S sponsors GB News. This is not just hate.'
Stop Funding Hate, which campaigns against advertising with media outlets that spread hate and division, has urged supporters to keep pressing M&S bosses to pull their ads from ‘toxic TV channel’ GB News.
This comes after the right-wing channel urged viewers to email M&S telling them they made “the right decision” by advertising on GB News.
Earlier this week, Stop Funding Hate posted on its Facebook page that “There’s a definitely-100%-authentic-grassroots Facebook page calling itself ‘Friends of GB News'”.
The group said the page has been running paid Facebook advertisements praising M&S for advertising on the channel and encouraging people to ask them to keep doing it.
GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry criticised Stop Funding Hate’s call for M&S to drop its ads, saying: “Political, hate-filled activists have constantly, negatively bombarded any brand who has advertised with GB NEWS because they believe that alternate viewpoints must be silenced”.
Stop Funding Hate shared a post on X which said: “So Marks and Spencer are now advertising with GB News, which previously aired commentary disparaging M&S for including a “mandatory” black family and an “obligatory gay couple” in their Christmas ad.”
The campaign group also pointed out that this week GB News aired commentary belittling a black actress on the BBC as a “diversity hire”, and asked “Are Marks and Spencer really comfortable to be associated with this?”.
Stop Funding Hate has emailed supporters asking them to contact M&S bosses urging them to stop advertising on GB News.
The M&S bosses’ emails are stuart.machin@marks-and-spencer.com and chairman@marks-and-spencer.com.
A graphic is circulating on social media with an image of M&S roast beef, playing on the retailer’s famous ad slogan with the caption: “M&S sponsors GB News. This is not just hate.”
In January, the pressure group launched a crowdfunder to help it fightback against right-wing channel GB News, which it says wants to bring Trump’s playbook to Britain.
It has now raised double its initial crowdfunder target. The link to the crowdfunder is here.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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