Big Brothers' mourn!
Friday, March 09, 2007
Carphone Warehouse has decided to end its sponsorship of Big Brother following the race row that dominated the celebrity version of the show earlier this year.
The mobile retailer had initially suspended its adverts accompanying the Channel 4 show in January at the height of criticism that Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was a victim of racial bullying at the hands of fellow contestants.
And it has now taken the decision to cancel the 3 million contract altogether after "huge publicity" forced it to look elsewhere. Channel 4 has said it has already begun looking at potential sponsors for this summer's non-celebrity version of the show.
The alleged racial-bullying of Shetty, 31, by former Big Brother contestant Jade Goody, singer Jo O'Meara and model Danielle Lloyd caused an international incident after the issue was raised in the House of Commons and during a trip to India by chancellor Gordon Brown.
And broadcasting watchdog Ofcom received 50,000 complaints from viewers complaining about the treatment of the Bollywood star.
All the supposed perpetrators have denied that their behaviour towards Shetty, the eventual winner of the series, was racially motivated but have offered apologies for the way in which they treated the actress.
"We
have
sponsored
Big
Brother
and
Celebrity
Big
Brother
for
four
years.
We
constantly
review
our
sponsorship
relationships
and
feel
that
having
suspended
the
sponsorship
during
this
year's
Celebrity
Big
Brother
now
is
a
good
time
to
look
at
the
partnership
again,"
a
Carphone
Warehouse
spokesperson
said.
"We
have
concluded
that
the
huge
publicity
around
the
show
and
our
involvement
within
that
means
that
now
is
the
time
for
us
to
look
for
an
alternative.
"We will continue to invest a large proportion of our media spend with Channel 4 both in TV airtime and online this will include Big Brother programming. And we look forward to continuing our long-term strategic relationship with the channel," the representative added.