# Charities and the Stop Funding Hate campaign

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/01/11/charities-stop-funding-hate-campaign/
- Published: 2017-01-11T09:30:22+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The [Stop Funding Hate](http://www.stopfundinghate.org.uk/) campaign, which calls
upon brands to stop advertising with media outlets that it believes promotes prejudice:
namely the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and The Sun, has criticised a number of big
names in the past month.**

Whereas a number of major supermarkets, retailers, and big brands have been outed
for their ad placements in print papers, a few charities have also received criticism
for online ad placement.

Here’s a round up of how charities have fared:

## Advertisement

#### Guide Dogs

One of the first up was [Guide Dogs](http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/‎), which saw an
online ad for puppy sponsorship appear next to a negative piece published on Mail
Online about British Muslims on 4^(th) December last year:

> Hi [@guidedogs](https://twitter.com/guidedogs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) – you may be
> unaware that your ad is appearing on this article that makes a false & retracted
> claim about British Muslims? [pic.twitter.com/6JiLHcbDD1](https://t.co/6JiLHcbDD1)
> — Stop Funding Hate (@StopFundingHate) [December 11, 2016](https://twitter.com/StopFundingHate/status/808047911254851584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 

#### Tate Modern

The [Tate Modern](http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern) came in for criticism
on 7^(th) December, when an ad advertising its new Rauschenberg exhibition appeared
above a Mail Online article on Jo Cox’s murderer and his fears concerning immigrants:

> .[@Tate](https://twitter.com/Tate?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Are you happy about your
> ads appearing with articles like this? Please stop advertising with the [@MailOnline](https://twitter.com/MailOnline?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> and [@StopFundingHate](https://twitter.com/StopFundingHate?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw).
> [pic.twitter.com/CohE7fIsUQ](https://t.co/CohE7fIsUQ)
> — Dr Ailsa Holland (@ailsaholland) [December 7, 2016](https://twitter.com/ailsaholland/status/806429815096147968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 

#### Macmillan

The 19^(th) December saw [Macmillan](https://www.macmillan.org.uk/) ads appear next
to a Katie Hopkin’s apology in the Mail Online for having called a Muslim family
terrorists:

https://twitter.com/kate_brennan/status/810794512960417792

Macmillan issued this response on Twitter:

> Hi Kate, thanks for alerting us. It looks like an automation issue and we've asked
> the team responsible to look into it.
> — Macmillan Cancer Support (@macmillancancer) [December 19, 2016](https://twitter.com/macmillancancer/status/810955981077315584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Its digital engagement manager, Lynda Bewley also told UK Fundraising:

> “Our advertising aims to reach anyone who might need our support or want to support
> us, because cancer can affect anyone at any time. This means our advertising software
> selects the platforms that let us reach the most people.
> “We have a digital advertising policy in place that stops our advertising from
> appearing on websites that contain sensitive content. However, as we are unable
> to control exactly which articles our ads appear on, we are looking into whether
> we could take a more tailored approach when it comes to advertising alongside 
> particularly sensitive editorial content.”

#### Save the Children UK

[Save the Children UK](http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/) saw fundraising ads appear
in The Sun, above an anti-Muslim article by Rod Liddle on 21^(st) December:

> Hi [@savechildrenuk](https://twitter.com/savechildrenuk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), 
> are you happy to be associated with Rod Liddle's spread of hate? [@stopfundinghate](https://twitter.com/StopFundingHate?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [https://t.co/jGbadD3bEs](https://t.co/jGbadD3bEs) [pic.twitter.com/RNiqMI1rgP](https://t.co/RNiqMI1rgP)
> — Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) [December 22, 2016](https://twitter.com/miqdaad/status/811930496343097344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Save the Children UK has issued the following response:

> “We advertise on multiple websites through a network model in which we do not 
> select specific sites. Many readers of the newspapers mentioned care about children
> and are supporters of our work all around the world.  We do not endorse any language
> or policy which discriminates between different groups of children.”

#### National Trust

On 22^(nd) December, membership ads for the [National Trust](https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/)
appeared either side of an article by James Delingpole criticising the charity’s
plans to promote the gay and transgender links of some of its buildings.

https://twitter.com/visualsumo/status/812046002588975104

It issued the following statement:

> Hello, we understand the level of concern on this issue, but as a charity that
> is for everyone… (1/2)
> — National Trust (@nationaltrust) [December 22, 2016](https://twitter.com/nationaltrust/status/811917532869394432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

> … we don’t exclude national newspapers when trying to reach all our supporters.(
> 2/2)
> — National Trust (@nationaltrust) [December 22, 2016](https://twitter.com/nationaltrust/status/811917591161831424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 

#### Solving ad placement issues

Stop Funding Hate, which currently has over 69,000 Twitter followers and over 200,000
likes on Facebook, says it is possible to control where online ads appear, and is
directing organisations to Google Adwords, which has a number of articles on how
to limit where ads appear online, including one on [how to exclude webpages](https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2454012?hl=en&ref_topic=3123061),
sites and domains, as well as [how to exclude pages about specific topics](https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2456096?hl=en&ref_topic=3123061).

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