Carphone Warehouse axes Big Brother sponsorship

Carphone Warehouse has pulled out of sponsoring Big Brother, ending its £3m a year sponsorship deal with Channel 4’s controversial show.

The telecoms giant says it made its decision because “the huge publicity around the show and our involvement within that means that now is the time for us to look for an alternative”.

Its decision ends a three-year relationship and follows negative media coverage over alleged racist bullying of this year’s celebrity edition of the show.

Carphone Warehouse had previously reacted to the negative coverage by pulling all of its sponsorship idents from around Celebrity Big Brother.

The retailer adds in a statement, however, that it will continue to invest a “large proportion” of its media spend with Channel 4.