China allegedly blocks HSBC and Standard Chartered ads in Hong Kong’s Apple Daily
Apple Daily, a Hong Kong tabloid which is a vocal critic of the Chinese authorities, has claimed that both HSBC and Standard Chartered have pulled out of advertising in the title after being asked to do so by the Chinese authorities.
Mark Simon, commercial director at the paper’s publisher, Next Media, made the allegations after both British banks pulled the plug on their campaigns late last year, despite it being one of the territory’s biggest selling papers with 200,000 sales a day
Reports in the Wall Street Journal quote Simon as placing the blame for the souring of relations on Apple’s coverage of local protests organised against Chinese influence over the former British colony.
Both HSBC and Standard Chartered deny the allegations, stating that it was a purely commercial decision to pull out whilst a Chinese government office in Hong Kong denies any contact with either business.
Between them the banks bought ads worth £2.2m from Apple Daily in 2013.