Earlier this month the Daily Express put up a headline: “Greta Thunberg’s ‘expertise’ dismantled before backlash over BBC documentary”. The article quoted prominent climate science denier Naomi Seibt, who criticised the BBC’s decision to show Thunberg’s new documentary. While the Daily Express recently launched a Green Britain campaign, seeing such a headline in the newspaper was not a surprise to us; as the Daily Express have a history of climate misinformation in their paper.
Our activists took to Twitter to gently point out to advertisers that they were appearing next to the headline.
One advertiser, Octopus Energy, responded, promising to review their adverts with The Daily Express.
Within 24 hours, the article was removed.
This is a great example of how the potential brand damage of simply appearing next to climate denial is enough to get advertisers to pull their money from papers and platforms.
Follow Up Resources
- If you want to help us spot more climate denial and encourage more brands to remove their advertisements from “dirty” articles and platforms, get in touch by emailing hello@stopfundinghate.info
- This story was also covered in DeSmog UK.