At least six brands have suspended advertising on GB News in the first 48 hours since its launch.
Drinks companies Kopparberg and Grolsch, skincare company Nivea and the Open University have all distanced themselves from the new channel following campaigns from groups such as Stop Funding Hate who have concerns over its political leanings and tone.
They were later joined by Swedish retail giant Ikea and Ovo Energy.
Advertising sales for the channel are being handled by Sky Media and all four brands said they were unaware their campaigns would appear on GB News in advance.
Delivery for ad campaigns run through Sky Media is spread across its portfolio of about 130 channels. Most TV advertising is bought and targeted to certain agreed audiences rather than specific channels.
As such insurance company LV is telling customers who complain on Twitter: “Our car and home adverts appear across the TV networks we buy so we haven’t specifically targeted this channel, but we’ve been looking into this with our media agency.”
Swedish cider company Kopparberg was the first to make its stance known on Monday, telling viewers on Twitter it wanted to review GB News’ content before making a final decision.
It said: “We want to make it clear to everyone that our ad ran on this channel without our knowledge or consent. Kopparberg is a drink for everyone and we have immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content.”
[Read more: GB News ‘won’t be hate-filled divisive shout-fest’ says journalism chief John McAndrew ahead of launch]
Nivea similarly wants to review GB News for three months before placing adverts there, which it said it does with any new launch.
A Nivea spokesperson told Press Gazette: “Media buying algorithms mean our adverts are automatically allocated across a wide selection of channels often without our knowledge, which is what has taken place in this instance.
“Typically, we would wait for a few months after a new channel or publication has launched before advertising with them, to ensure that they reflect the values we hold as a company. We have paused our advertising with GB News in line with this policy and will review this decision in three months.”
Beer company Grolsch said it would “do everything we possibly can” to stop its adverts appearing again.
It told one campaigner: “This advert for Grolsch ran on the GB News channel completely without our knowledge or consent, and we’re in the process of investigating with our media partners why this happened.
“Grolsch is a brand that prides itself on core values of inclusion and openness to all people, and we want to be clear that we do not associate ourselves with any platforms or outlets that go against these values.
“We will do everything we possibly can to ensure that Grolsch does not appear on this channel again.”
A spokesperson from The Open University said: “The Open University’s mission is to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.
“We did not directly plan or purchase advertising with GB News on this occasion and were not aware that this slot would be running. We have therefore chosen to pause the advertising with GB News channel while we investigate how this happened.”
Ikea said it had “not knowingly” advertised on GB News and that it has “safeguards in place to prevent our advertising from appearing on platforms that are not in line with our humanistic values and vision to side with the many people”.
“We are in the process of investigating how this may have occurred to ensure it won’t happen again in future, and have suspended paid display advertising in the meantime.”
Ovo Energy said: “We have a media partnership which places our adverts across a number of channels and programmes on a network. New channels were added to this network last week and our adverts ran on this channel without our prior knowledge or consent.
“OVO strongly believes that a kinder world is a stronger one. We strive to promote inclusion and diversity across all OVO spaces and we do not place our brand in any places which distribute or promote hate.
“We have a clear policy not to advertise on platforms which do not align with our values. We’ve made the decision to pause our use of the channel whilst we ensure it meets our values.”
The opinion-led TV channel gave much discussion time on its first day to scepticism over “taking the knee” as an appropriate way to demonstrate against racism and on the channel’s first two nights ex-Sun showbiz editor Dan Wootton shared his anti-lockdown views. However Andrew Neil supported the extension of England’s lockdown restrictions until 19 July.
[Read more: Andrew Neil says GB News plans to take war on ‘woke’ establishment media global]
GB News did not respond to a request for comment.
However GB News director John McAndrew told Press Gazette last week the channel would not be a “hate-filled divisive shout-fest” and that it would “come at things straight down the middle” rather than with one political leaning.
Other advertisers who have appeared on GB News so far include Amazon, the AA, Boots, Cadbury, Co-op, Deliveroo, Facebook, Google, Kellogg’s, Ladbrokes, Microsoft, Octopus Energy, Starbucks, Talk Talk, Virgin Media and Vodafone.
Stop Funding Hate has previously persuaded brands to withdraw advertising from right-wing newspaper titles such as The Sun and Daily Mail.
Picture: GB News/Screenshot
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