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MUMBAI:
Advertisers can put pressure on news channels for the content
that they air. In the latest incident, British supermarket
chain Waitrose has decided to pull out its advertisements
from Fox News in the UK.
The
reason: the cable news channel's Glenn Beck programme was
receiving several complaints.
Glenn
Beck, in his presentation on Fox News in July, had said that
Obama had a "deep-seated hatred for white people"
and called him a "racist". His comments were in
response to remarks that Obama had made about the police in
Massachusetts when he said that they had acted stupidly in
arresting a black professor as he entered his own home.
Beck's
outburst led to several companies, including Wal-Mart, Best
Buy and Travelocity, withdrawing their ads from his US show.
Back
in the UK, a Waitrose shopper emailed the supermarket chain
to complain about its decision to maintain its involvement
with Fox News despite Beck's remarks.
Waitrose
subsequently pulled its ads from the Fox News slot on Sky
by saying that "the decision was taken in response to
views expressed by its customers and was not politically motivated".
Said
a Waitrose spokesman in a statement, "We take the placement
of our ads in individual programmes very seriously, ensuring
the content of these programmes is deemed appropriate for
a brand with our values. Since being notified of our presence
within the Glenn Beck programme, we have withdrawn all our
ads from the Fox News channel with immediate effect and for
all future TV advertising campaigns."
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