LONDON: Several large brands announced on Wednesday that they had suspended advertising on the newly launched UK-based news channel, GB News.
Brands that pulled adverts include Nivea, Ikea, The Open University, Octopus Energy, Dutch beer brand Grolsch and Swedish brewery Kopparberg.
English broadcaster Piers Morgan attacked Ikea for withdrawing their adverts, labeling them “pathetic virtue-signaling twerps” and announcing that he would now boycott the Swedish company.
Shortly after its launch, the campaign group Stop Funding Hate urged advertisers to avoid doing business with the channel. Unaware that they were going to appear on GB News, some companies consequently suspended their adverts once they began to air.
To that end, Ikea said it had booked advertisement slots on GB News, but was initially unaware of the channel’s mandate, which the company said “does not align with its humanistic values.”
In response, GB News chairman Andrew Neil said on Twitter: “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.”
Other companies that pulled ads echoed Ikea’s concerns.
Kopparberg, for example, said that its advert ran “without its knowledge” and that it was undertaking a review of the channel’s content. Meanwhile, Octopus Energy said that it would only run ads on GB News if the news channel proved “genuinely balanced.”
The Open University also said that they were withdrawing advertising on the channel, which was reportedly placed by a media partnership without their knowledge.
GB News has already been the target of hundreds of complaints since its launch on Sunday. Ofcom, the UK regulatory authority for broadcasting and telecommunication, received 373 complaints from viewers of “Tonight Live with Dan Wootton” on GB News.
Positioning itself as a rival to BBC and Sky News, GB News was launched with the aim of shaking up the British media landscape.
Some of the new channel’s financial supporters have backed prominent right-wing causes and campaign groups, while some GB News programs are presented by journalists with outspoken conservative views.
Among the channel’s first guests on its opening night was former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.
