GB News: Kopparberg and other brands suspend advertising on TV channel
Swedish brewery says it will review content on new channel
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Your support makes all the difference.At least five brands, including Kopparberg drinks and Nivea skincare, have suspended advertising on GB News pending “further review” of the channel’s content.
The Swedish brewery appeared on a list of companies whose commercials had appeared on GB News after its launch, amid a social campaign to calling for advertisers to boycott it.
Kopparberg, best known for its ciders, told Twitter users: “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We want to make it clear to everyone that our ad ran on this channel without our knowledge or consent.”
The firm added: “Kopparberg is a drink for everyone and we have immediately suspended our ads from this channel pending further review of its content.”
Other companies made a similar move, as first reported by Press Gazette. Beer company Grolsch said it would “do everything we possibly can” to stop its adverts appearing on GB News again.
The new channel, which aims to provide an outlet for opinions it claims are not given airtime by other broadcasters, has been forced to deny comparisons to Fox News, the right-wing US channel.
The Independent has contacted Kopparberg and GB News for comment.
Following months of speculation about how it might affect opinion and political discourse in the UK, GB News launched on Sunday evening, immediately attracting attention.
The 24-hour-channel opened with a programme called Welcome to GB News, hosted by the channel’s chairman, former BBC journalist Andrew Neil.
Neil introduced the GB News team, including the former Brexit Party candidate and The Apprentice winner Michelle Dewberry, ex-Sky News reporter Colin Brazier, and former Sun executive editor Dan Wootton, who sparked controversy with his first broadcast on the channel.
Tonight Live with Dan Wootton began with a lengthy monologue condemning the expected delay to England’s exit from the remaining Covid lockdown restrictions, which was confirmed on Monday.
Wootton went on to claim it was “increasingly clear now that there is a move among some public health officials and politicians to create an ultra-cautious biosecurity state, copying the likes of China”.
He urged viewers to fight back against “doomsday scientists”, who he suggested were taking control and were “addicted to the power”, accusing the government of running a Covid scare campaign that had “terrified the public into supporting lockdowns”.
The channel's opening night was beset with technical issues and received mixed reviews from critics. Its launch did, however, attract more viewers than rivals BBC News and Sky News in the same timeslot.
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