Thursday, March 17, 2016

How The Financial Times Responded To HP's Threat To Pull Advertising

Lifted in full from BoingBoing, Feb. 16:

Financial Times' response to ad-cutting threat from HP is great

Artist's impression of what they were really thinking
 Artist's impression of what they were really thinking
The Financial Times ran a column critical of Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman. The company's marketing chief, Henry Gomez, threatened to cut the advertising it ran in the newspaper. Lucy Kellaway's response is perfect.
My piece was not biased and I fear you misunderstand our business model. It is my editors’ steadfast refusal to consider the impact of stories on advertisers that makes us the decent newspaper we are. It is why I want to go on working here. It is why the FT goes on paying me.
Kellaway seems almost happy to have gotten such a direct threat in the first place, in an age of smarmy PR outreach and cold silence. But it's no surprise that HP is the one to break ranks. When did it get its reputation for this sort of "nice ads you have there" nastiness?
HT: naked capitalism