#Stop Funding Hate is a movement to encourage Ethical Advertising and aims to make hate unprofitable.
#Stop Funding Hate is a social media campaign to influence big business to consider the views of the newspapers they use for their advertising. The aim is to stop companies from advertising in certain newspapers that they feel use “fear and division to sell more papers.
In 2015, Britain’s popular newspaper, the Sun, published an article which likened African migrants to “cockroaches”.
Following which, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a condemning response, ““History has shown us time and again the dangers of demonizing foreigners and minorities, and it is extraordinary and deeply shameful to see these types of tactics being used in a variety of countries, simply because racism and xenophobia are so easy to arouse in order to win votes or sell newspapers”.These words struck a chord with many in Britain, and it led to the @Stop Funding Hate campaign.
A Stop Funding Hate supporter shared a heartfelt message on the Facebook page of Lego (toy maker), who happen to be Daily Mail’s (UK newspaper) big promotional partners:
I love Lego. My 6 year old son loves Lego… But I’m concerned. For a few years now you have done free giveaways in the Daily Mail newspaper… lately their headlines have gone beyond offering a right wing opinion. Headlines that do nothing but create distrust of foreigners, blame immigrants for everything, and as of yesterday are now having a go at top judges in the U.K. for being gay while making a legal judgment…
Your links to the Daily Mail are wrong. And a company like yours shouldn’t be supporting them…
Watch this video and read the short information underneath to understand what the organisation is
all about.
http://www.stopfundinghate.org.uk
This article explains the pressure John Lewis was put under to change its advertising.
Here is an article from the Spectator which accuses the organisation of press censorship.
While there is still a long way to go when it comes to improving press standards, people have realised the importance of using social media as a powerful tool for campaigning against hate in newspapers.
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