No More Page Three targets Co-op
The Co-operative Group has insisted it will not pull advertising from The Sun despite being targeted by a No More Page Three campaign claiming advertising with the paper is at odds with The Co-op’s ethical business strategy.
No More Page Three has launched what it calls “an appeal” to The Co-operative Group as part of its efforts to lobby advertisers to put pressure on the paper to cease running topless models on page three.
It is asking consumers to use Twitter and Facebook to appeal to The Co-op to follow its own principleof “purpose beyond profit” and stop advertising in The Sun until its stops running topless shots on page three.
The lobbying group has also adopted The Co-op’s own ‘Join the Revolution’ slogan to equate its No More Page Three campaign with a “media revolution” saying: “[The Co-op] can support a revolution in the media! Stop associating with The Sun while it supports sexism”.
No More Page Three says: “The Co-op is not the biggest Sun advertiser so you may well ask – why them? The Co-operative has a huge and amazing history of being fair to all. They believe in sharing the wealth, they supported the women’s movement long before it was trendy to do so.”
The Co-op says it has no current plans to change its advertising strategy, but will “monitor” the No More Page Three campaign.
A spokesman for The Co-op says: “The Co-operative advertises in a wide range of national media but we do not look to influence specific editorial content.
“The limits of press freedom and free speech are extremely sensitive issues. Indeed, the advertising media we use is something which, from time to time, our customers and members engage with us on but we have no specific ethical policy on the editorial contents on national newspapers.”
The campaign group claimed a victory earlier this month when Lego’s partnership with the paper to give away free toys to readers came to an end and was not renewed following an ongoing social media campaign targeting the brand.
Although it did not overtly link the No More Page Three campaign to the deal Fiona Wright, Lego UK vice president and general manager, told the Guardian the brand was aware “a lot of people” were concerned about the partnership with the paper and had listened to those concerns.
The Sun, however, categorically denied the two were linked.
