Sorrell urges UK establishment to get behind advertising industry
WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell has used an opinion piece in The Telegraph to criticise establishment figures that have dismissed the UK advertising industry, pointing out that the sector rakes in around £100bn a year for the British economy.
Describing the sector as a true UK success story Sorrell warned that industry leaders were ‘alarmed and bemused’ in the wake of comments made by shadow minister for culture Helen Goodman in which she betrayed ‘hostility and suspicion’.
Goodman used a platform at a recent summit of the Advertising Association to warn of fresh legislation to clampdown on the ‘curse’ of branding and ‘excesses in marketing’ after linking materialism to the London riots in 2011.
Desribing the attack as ‘lazy punditry’ Sorrell wrote: “Advertising is an engine of economic growth, and a key component of our national prosperity.
“One sure-fire way to accelerate the UK’s recovery would be for still cautious brands and businesses to invest more in marketing their products, so it is disappointing when the political instinct is to stifle rather than exploit this potential.
“Our industry is rightly subject to scrutiny and criticism like any other, but every now and then our public figures might find time to talk up, not undermine, a genuine British success story.”