Lego ends commercial deal with newspaper targeted by campaigners

Updated

Lego said it has "no plans" for future free giveaways in The Daily Mail following a campaign calling on advertisers to boycott newspapers that promoted "demonisation and division" during the Brexit debate.

The toy company confirmed to a father, concerned about the commercial relationship, that it had no plans for further promotions of its play bricks with the newspaper.

In the letter that went viral on Facebook, Bob Jones said that the newspaper's headlines created a "distrust of foreigners" and said he felt uncomfortable about buying the bricks for his son after the tie-up.
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​​​​​​Mr Jones ended his letter to the Danish company with the hashtag StopFundingHate, the name of the campaigning group that is targeting advertisers with The Sun, The Express and the Daily Mail because of those newspapers' editorial stance over the referendum debate.

In response to the letter, Lego said today: "Our agreement with The Daily Mail has finished and we have no plans to run any promotional activity with the newspaper in the foreseeable future."

The company - which ended its relationship with Shell in 2014 after a Greenpeace video highlighted the oil group's plans to drill in the Arctic - declined to say if it was responding to the campaign or if it had changed its marketing plans.

A Daily Mail spokesperson confirmed the end of the commercial agreement but did not address the boycott campaign.

The move was welcomed by Gary Lineker who had crossed swords with The Sun about the media portrayal of child refugees after describing the media treatment of young migrants arriving in the UK as "hideously racist".

Lineker, who has appeared in numerous adverts for Walkers Crisps, said he had talks with the food manufacturer about its advertising policy. He retweeted the message from Lego today with the comment "Brick by brick..."

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