The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) has denied promoting “cancel culture” and clarified its stance on political ad boycotts following accusations of being a left-wing “monster” by Conservative MPs.
CAN is a UK-based international coalition that strives to break the “economic link between advertising and harmful content”. It counts the UK’s five biggest ad agencies among its members – Omnicom, Dentsu, Publicis Media UK, WPP, and The Interpublic Group – as well as other notable household names, such as Havas Media, Virgin Media O2, Nationwide and Innocent.
The accusations have been made due to CAN’s links with pressure group Stop Funding Hate, which has organised boycotts of media outlets like the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, and GB News, causing concern among Tory MPs.
However, CAN maintains that – other than informal meetings during CAN’s inception – it has had “no formal contact” with the boycott group, stating that: “The Conscious Advertising Network actively supports free speech, and we have never called for any ad boycotts based on political views.”
“From the outset of the Conscious Advertising Network being formed we sought advice from many brand advertisers, agencies and civil society groups,” commented a spokesperson.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
“Stop Funding Hate was one of 23 organisations that assisted with the creation of our six original manifestos on anti ad-fraud, diversity, informed consent, hate speech, children’s wellbeing and mis/disinformation, which are all closely aligned with the Government’s Online Safety Bill.
“The Conscious Advertising Network’s mission remains clear – to create a safe, inclusive and commercially viable information ecosystem for advertisers and wider society that supports quality journalism and content, diversity of media and scientific consensus.”
The statement comes in response to challenges from Conservative MPs, who have linked CAN to the boycott pressure group, with some going so far as to describe the organisation as “a monster”.
“This is like the Stonewall campaign. Businesses are being duped into signing up to some fuzzy, cuddly-sounding name only later to realise that the thing they signed up to has morphed into a monster and become highly political,” said deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson.
Referring to the recent Coutts decision to close Nigel Farage’s bank account because of his political views, the MP for Mansfield, Ben Bradley, commented, “We’ve seen in recent days that the banking sector has been overrun by cancel culture.
“It’s deeply worrying that a similar takeover is happening in advertising and that so many household names are being duped by a so-called ‘conscious advertising network’ that we now find out is being run by a bunch of far-Left, politically motivated activists at Stop Funding Hate.”
The statement also refers to recent criticism surrounding the views of some of the CAN team, despite the organisation’s strict code on hate speech, urging brands to avoid advertising with “media outlets that fuel hatred on the grounds of race, religion and nationality”, among other characteristics.
