CAR makers who planned to advertise in the News of the World should replace their adverts with charity ones.
That’s the view of one car manufacturer who is urging any others with space booked to do the same.
The anonymous manufacturer source told Car Dealer: ‘If we had advertising booked with the News of the World the advert would have been due to be submitted yesterday.
‘So the question is what would we have done if we had booked space?
‘The problem is car manufacturers will be contractually bound to pay for that space – and even if they pull it they’ll have to pay anyway.
‘So we thought if it was us we’d do one of three things. Submit a blank page; submit a page with a statement saying why we weren’t advertising properly; but the most popular choice – and one we’d go with – would be to submit an advert for a charity instead.
‘All car manufacturers – in fact all advertisers who have booked space and who are being forced to pay – should do that.’
Ford, Vauxhall, Renault and Suzuki have pulled their adverts from the paper already. Mitsubishi pulled theirs too and have donated the money to Childline instead.
Car Dealer Magazine is in the process of contacting all car makers in the UK and asking if they have space booked in this weekend’s newspaper, which it has just been announced will be the last ever published.
We want to know if they have, will they be pulling it and if they are contractually obliged to pay will they be submitting a charity’s advert instead.
Advertisers have been quitting the newspaper in their droves in the wake of the phone hacking scandal which saw the a contractor working on behalf of the paper hack the phones of deceased servicemen and the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
The car manufacturer responses
Aston Martin:
No advert spend with NoTW
Mercedes-Benz/Smart:
Mercedes-Benz isn’t advertising with News of The World.
Fiat/Alfa Romeo/Jeep/Chrysler:
We have no space booked.
Hyundai:
In light of recent developments, Hyundai Motor UK Ltd yesterday confirmed that it will be suspending all advertising with the News of the World pending the outcome of the News International investigation.
SsangYong:
SsangYong is not advertising in the News of the World and has no plans to.
Saab:
Saab do not advertise in the News of the World and have no plans to do so.
Subaru:
Subaru UK has no advertising scheduled with the News of the World.
Toyota/Lexus:
Toyota is not currently advertising in the News of the World and is monitoring the situation closely.
Porsche:
Porsche has never advertised in the News of the World.
Jaguar & Land Rover:
Neither Jaguar nor Land Rover have any active advertising campaigns in the News of the World.
Ferrari:
Ferrari doesn’t advertise, so this does not affect us.
BMW:
BMW do not advertise with the News of the World so this does not affect us.
Nissan:
Nissan has not advertised in the News of The World for some time, and has no plans to do so.
Skoda:
We do not have any advertising placed or planned with News of the World. Our media placement agency look at what best fits our audience and NoTW is not on our schedule.
Vauxhall:
We pulled opur advert before the deadline. (We asked if they would be charged anyway and the maker confirmed they would not be).
Honda:
Honda does not currently advertise in NoTW, and has no plans to. With regards to other News International publications, we’re monitoring the situation, but have no plans for action at the moment.
Seat:
An easy one this: We don’t advertise with the News of the World anyway. Our media agency places our adverts in the most efficient and effective places according to our target demographics, budget etc, and this newspaper is not part of that mix.
Kia:
We do not have any advertising with the News of the World this weekend and have none planned in our current advertising schedule.
Audi:
We do not advertise in NoTW and have no plans to do so.
Volvo:
We don’t advertise in NoTW and have no plans to advertise in any News Int titles at the moment.
Renault:
Renault acknowledges the concerns raised regarding the allegations of phone hacking by the News of the World. As a result of the seriousness of the continued allegations, we can confirm that Renault has no media advertising currently planned with the News of the World, nor will we commit to any future activity, until the outcome of the formal investigations is complete.
Chevrolet:
Chevrolet has suspended advertising in the News of the World. It will reconsider its position pending the outcome of investigations into the allegations of phone hacking.
Ford:
Ford cares about the standards of behaviour of its own people and those it deals with outside the company, and is therefore concerned by the serious nature of the allegations of past activities against the News of the World and the resulting high level of public concern. While we are not prejudging the outcome of the ongoing investigations, we believe it is appropriate to suspend advertising in the News of the World pending the outcome. In the interim, we will advertise in alternative media within and outside the News International Group.
Mazda:
We do not have any space booked in the News of the World.
Volkswagen:
We were discussing this yesterday and cannot recall when we last – or indeed if we ever – advertised with NOTW. Certainly we have no current plans to.
Peugeot:
We had no advertising plans with NoTW for this weekend.
Lotus
Lotus does not advertise in NoTW.
So far no comments have been received from the following car makers so we can’t tell you if they plan to spend with the paper or not:
Bentley, Citroen, Infiniti, Maserati, MG, Mini, Proton.
What do you think advertisers should do? Let us know by tweeting the editor @CarDealerEd or by commenting on this story below