The Daily Mail attempted to contact big brands which pulled adverts from GB News to ask what content prompted their quick withdrawals. While many failed to respond, those that did failed to give any examples.
Kopparberg
The Swedish cider maker told Twitter followers that its adverts appeared on the new channel without its ‘knowledge or consent’.
It added: ‘Kopparberg is a drink for everyone and we have immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content.’
Vodafone
The telecoms giant said that its commercials appeared on GB News without its permission and it prefers not to advertise on a new channel.
A spokesman explained: ‘We wouldn’t normally advertise on a new channel, preferring instead to wait to make a commercial assessment of its quality and reach.
‘With GB News still very much in its infancy, we do not have plans to advertise with them at this stage. Our advertising did, however, appear on the channel without our permission.’
The Open University
It said it was not aware GB News was on its advertising schedule and has ‘paused’ advertising while a review is carried out. A spokesman said: ‘With new channel launches, our process is to review the channel over a period of three months before agreeing advertising. On this occasion, we were not aware that GB News was on our advertising schedule so we have paused activity while we review.’
Octopus Energy
The firm said while it was ‘categorically not boycotting GB News’ it would be monitoring its contents before any further advertising.
A spokesman added: ‘Simply, we haven’t had time yet to see its output. Like any prudent business, we need to see a product or service before we buy it so we’ll be watching GB News before making any decisions. This is a policy we’ve implemented for all new TV stations.’
OVO Energy
The firm said its adverts were run on the channel ‘without its prior knowledge or consent’. It added: ‘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.’
Ikea
The Swedish furniture giant said it had ‘not knowingly’ advertised on GB News.
It added: ‘We are in the process of investigating how this may have occurred to ensure it won’t happen again in the future and have suspended paid display advertising in the meantime.’
Nivea
The skincare specialist said its adverts were automatically linked to the channel.
It has suspended the advertising and will review the decision in three months’ time.
Grolsch
The beer company said its adverts were run without its ‘knowledge or consent’ and it would ‘do everything we possibly can’ to stop the commercials from appearing on the channel again.
It added that it did not associate with platforms that opposed values of ‘inclusion and openness’.
The social media platform apologised for advertising with GB News, claiming it had no knowledge of the placement and would suspend its ads from the channel ‘without question’.
It explained on Twitter: ‘We had no knowledge and would never have approved it… Without question, we have suspended our ads.’
LV
The insurance company tweeted: ‘Our car and home adverts appear across the TV networks we buy [advertising time from] so we haven’t specifically targeted this channel, but we’ve been looking into this with our media agency.’
Specsavers
The chain is said to have told a campaigner it had suspended GB News advertising while it reviews placements with its media buying agency.
Bosch
It said it works with selected media agencies to ensure its adverts do not appear on ‘political channels’. The company said this was an isolated example which is being ‘dealt with accordingly’.
Indeed
The firm reportedly told a campaigner calling for a boycott of GB News it had ‘requested and confirmed’ that its advert will not air on the channel in the future.