Stop Funding Hate
Christmas should be a time of goodwill to all - yet in the last few weeks we’ve continued to see stories in the UK press targeting minority groups. Yesterday the Sun published an article calling on the LGBT charity Stonewall to “fight Islam”: www.tinyurl.com/SunArticleDec30
Virgin Media aims to “make good things happen for our customers and the communities we’re part of". Yet they advertise in a newspaper whose hostile coverage of some communities is deeply divisive.
If you’re on Twitter, please send a polite and friendly message to www.twitter.com/VirginMedia urging them to turn over a new leaf and #StopFundingHate in 2017.
You can also write to the company directly via:
Virgin Media,
PO Box 333,
Matrix Court,
Swansea,
SA7 9ZJ.
Many thanks for all of your support in 2016 - and very best wishes for a happy and positive New Year!
Richard Wilson
Stop Funding Hate
www.facebook.com/stopfundinghate
To: Tom Mockridge - Virgin Media CEO
Virgin Media - stop advertising in the Sun
We urge you to take a stand against racism by pulling your advertising from the Sun newspaper.
Why is this important?
Virgin’s brand values - being honest, decent and playing it straight - are totally at odds with the Sun’s track record of misleading reporting, and of playing one group off against another in pursuit of a divisive political agenda.
Last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights raised serious concerns about a Sun article likening migrants to “cockroaches". He said this was typical of “decades of sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse, misinformation and distortion” by the UK media.
Yet since then, the Sun’s demonisation of immigrants has only intensified. The hate campaign reached new heights during the European Union referendum. An upsurge in scare stories about EU migrants was followed by a wave of violence against immigrant families.
Virgin’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, has previously spoken out against the “anti-refugee and anti-immigrant rhetoric... gaining support in many of the richest nations”.
With racist attacks on the rise, it is vital that we all now unite against the hatred and division that has been poisoning our public discourse for so long.
As one of the UK’s leading companies, Virgin Media has the chance to take a bold stand for unity and tolerance. By pulling your advertising from the Sun newspaper, you can send a strong message that this aggressive rhetoric has gone too far. In doing so you can position yourself as a company that not only stands out from the crowd, but also stands up for the vulnerable and maligned.
Last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights raised serious concerns about a Sun article likening migrants to “cockroaches". He said this was typical of “decades of sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse, misinformation and distortion” by the UK media.
Yet since then, the Sun’s demonisation of immigrants has only intensified. The hate campaign reached new heights during the European Union referendum. An upsurge in scare stories about EU migrants was followed by a wave of violence against immigrant families.
Virgin’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, has previously spoken out against the “anti-refugee and anti-immigrant rhetoric... gaining support in many of the richest nations”.
With racist attacks on the rise, it is vital that we all now unite against the hatred and division that has been poisoning our public discourse for so long.
As one of the UK’s leading companies, Virgin Media has the chance to take a bold stand for unity and tolerance. By pulling your advertising from the Sun newspaper, you can send a strong message that this aggressive rhetoric has gone too far. In doing so you can position yourself as a company that not only stands out from the crowd, but also stands up for the vulnerable and maligned.
