Advertising for The Sun this Sunday sold out – despite campaign to persuade mobile phone companies not to take part
A campaign by Avaaz members to persuade UK mobile phone companies such as O2, T Mobile and Vodafone not to advertise in the new Sunday edition of The Sun is gaining speed – although Rupert Murdoch announced on his Twitter feed that advertising for the first issue had completely sold out.
He said ‘More good Sun news. We're completely sold out for advertising!’ yesterday evening, not long after revealing that the price of the new newspaper would be 50p.
However, the campaign to persuade brands not to advertising in the Sunday edition of The Sun has led to thousands of comments on the Facebook pages of the targeted brands.
Campaigning community Avaaz said in a message: “This Sunday, Rupert Murdoch is making his next bold move to dominate our news media -- re-launching his disgraced Sunday paper under a new name.
The ‘Sun on Sunday’ is struggling to secure advertisers nervous about hacking and bribery allegations. Without them, the paper can’t survive. Last July, a massive consumer backlash caused advertisers to desert the News of the World in droves, forcing it to close -- and our pressure can ensure they reject its replacement.
“Mobile providers O2, Vodaphone and Everything Everywhere are still considering advertising in the paper -- even though nearly 200 of their customers were victims of Murdoch’s phone hacking. Let’s tell these companies what’s at stake -- click here to send them a clear message and force them to back out of their hacking support.”