In the past week, two major corporations have issued statements to suggest that they would not like to advertise on news channels that air toxic content.
In a report in Mint, Krishnarao Buddha of Parle Products — the maker of Parle G biscuits — said the company would not like to advertise on channels that promote aggression and toxicity since it does not favour its target consumer.
He added: “We are exploring possibilities wherein other advertisers can come together and sort of put a restraint on their advertising spends on news channels, so that there is some sort of a clear signal to all the news channels, that they better change their content.”
Earlier last week, Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj told journalist Shereen Bhan on CNBC TV18 that the brand would never be associated with anything that is, beyond reasonable doubt, "a source of toxicity in our society".
'Our brand would never be associated with anything that we feel is, beyond reasonable doubt, a source of toxicity in our society' says Managing Director of @bajaj_ltd Rajiv Bajaj in a conversation with @ShereenBhan. #FakeTRP #FakeTRPScam pic.twitter.com/A3gESXUFI4
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) October 8, 2020
In October last year, Newslaundry began its series Bloodlust TV where we call out TV anchors, channels and sponsors of primetime debates fanning hate and spreading misinformation. The series had called out Zee News’ show on "jihad chart", Republic TV’s misinformation on the Jamia shooting, and Sudarshan News's show on "UPSC jihad", which was incidentally powered by the Uttar Pradesh government.
In The Media Rumble dispatches this year, Newslaundry hosted a discussion, “Hate News: With Great Advertising Comes Great Responsibility”, which looked at the questions of brand responsibility in powering news content.
Also Read: Renault has stopped advertising on Republic Bharat. Will Nissan be the next?
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