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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think Paperchase shouldn't have apologised?

267 replies

jenniferl1983 · 21/11/2017 00:20

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42057493

Paperchase have apologised for a promotional giveaway that was featured in the Daily Mail. They were lobbied by the campaign group Stop Funding Hate and have now promised they ''won't ever do it again''.

AIBU to think they shouldn't have backed down so easily on the back of some social media messages? Businesses seem now to be so scared of causing a media furore that they now apologise for anything (see the 1 gender fluid man who got Topshop to change their dressing room policy).

This isn't an incident where someone has received appalling or dangerous service or been discriminated against, it's just a promotion in a newspaper. I don't understand the ott grovelling.

OP posts:
mrsreynolds · 21/11/2017 07:52

I’m glad and will now shop there again.

southeastdweller · 21/11/2017 07:57

YANBU. Pathetic response. It's bullying by the group. Think this will damage their sales a bit, and possible shares, and that Stop Funding Hate need to look at bigger issues that are going on and not focus on something so relatively small. This has PR disaster written all over it.

OllyBJolly · 21/11/2017 07:58

I'm delighted they apologised and I'll spend even more next time I'm in.

I actually think that social media is one of the more powerful forces for change at the moment: the Ralf Little/ Jeremy Hunt exchange being a great example.

thecatfromjapan · 21/11/2017 08:01

Here's a thought: Perhaps there are some things people should be ashamed of?

I find that post quite telling.

The feeling of 'shame' is one that is communal. It's felt as personal but is rooted in a sense that a certain behaviour meets with communal disapproval and is perceived as being agains the interests of a group - usually the community that the person potentially experiencing 'shame' wishes to be a part of.

It is a very powerful emotion.

It can give rise to anger, quite often. Non-one like to feel 'shame'.

However, that feeling is often based on a recognition that the person feeling shame enjoys the behaviour and is unwilling to give it up.

It's up to the person feeling 'shame' to decide whether or not they agree with the community mores. If you don't: question the decision; leave the community; join a community of the like-minded. Or perhaps accept that the community has a point and question the behaviour.

Anger at feeling shame is a process on the journey. It's a useless end-point.

Floellabumbags · 21/11/2017 08:02

Father Christmas will be buying lots of Paperchase stocking fillers this year.

thecatfromjapan · 21/11/2017 08:02

I'm wondering why Lego haven't been questioned in the same way as Paperchase?

ArcheryAnnie · 21/11/2017 08:07

I'm happy for the Mail to continue to publish whatever lies and bullshit they usually do - a free press is one of the cornerstones of democracy. If I give my custom and money to a certain business, I am also free to choose whether to continue to give my custom to that business if they give money to the Mail, or anyone else I dislike, and tell them so.

I don't see the problem. The Mail is free to continue publishing, and Paperchase is free to make a business decision whether or not to advertise with them.

(And the reality is that print advertising is dying anyway, so this is a bit of an easy win for Paperchase.)

MissionItsPossible · 21/11/2017 08:13

DM are shit, they deserve all the resistance they get, they publish things they know aren’t true and then give a meek apology after the damage has been done

There's no denying that but please let's not pretend that all newspapers don't do this. I can't remember any newspaper or magazine running a false front page news story printing a front page apology.

ReanimatedSGB · 21/11/2017 08:14

I agree with PP who pointed out that the Mail is probably the biggest troll of all, so its staff can't piss and moan when they get trolled right back.

I do also find a percentage of the self-righteous footstamping that occurs on line to be a little distasteful and a little worrying.

whiskyowl · 21/11/2017 08:16

Lego were questioned extremely hard about this last year catfromjapan.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lego-daily-mail-promotion-stop-funding-hate-newspaper-a7414671.html

Has there been any resumption of their advertising in the paper since?

Katyppp · 21/11/2017 08:16

So, the consensus seems to be if you disagree with the DM's politics, it is right that Paperchase were forced to apologise?
People can't bear to hear different opinions these days. Can PPs who are supporting SFH's stance not understand that just because you don't agree with something doesn't mean it's wrong? Free speech is the most important thing and we are eroding this right every day.

southeastdweller · 21/11/2017 08:18

The comments here about Paperchase 'hitting them where it hurts' are ridiculous - other advertisers will be eager to work with the DM since it's one of the most popular newspapers in the U.K, though not on MN where apparently nobody reads it.

Gran22 · 21/11/2017 08:20

I read the Guardian online, and occasionally buy the DM. My views sit somewhere between the two. Just because I read something in a newspaper doesn't mean I have to believe it! As adults with access to more information than at any time before, can't we be trusted to decide what's fair and decent by ourselves?

thecatfromjapan · 21/11/2017 08:22

It's not about a difference of opinion.

It's about political power within a consumer culture.

It's not about 'social media trolling', it's about following through on the strategies outlined in Naomi Klein's work.

The Daily Mail is a political organ of the extreme right. It's coated in sugary fluff about celebrity cellulite but its main thing is the propagation of right wing propaganda.

Given that the main power we lowly consumers have is purchase-power we can a. boycott b. boycott the advertising revenue.

(b) seems to be a strategy worth pursuing.

Rebeccaslicker · 21/11/2017 08:27

I don't like the fail and never read it but somehow this seems to smack rather of censorship. If we only had the guardian and the indie left, presumably they'd be happy...!

MuseumOfCurry · 21/11/2017 08:27

A case of the right-on Guardian readers forming an economic alliance against the hateful DM readers, who will no doubt respond in kind.

GrumpyOldBag · 21/11/2017 08:29

I have been supporting Stop Funding Hate for a long time and think this is a very good result both for them and for Paperchase.

It's very rare that a consumer business admits they made a mistake.

As for "bullying by the group" the real bullies are the Mail. They are being called out on it, and hit where it hurts. That can only be a good thing.

BowlingShoes · 21/11/2017 08:30

The DM has always been a rag. In the past, I'd have said it was enough not to buy it if you don't like it but it has really stepped up to unpleasant lies about refugees over the past few years. I supported the Stop Funding Hate campaign and think it's important that DM (and the government, who are in Dacre's pocket) do start to realise that people are highly offended by some of the things they print. I'm sure it won't change their unpleasant outlook, but at least it brings some public attention to the issue.

MuseumOfCurry · 21/11/2017 08:31

The Daily Mail is a political organ of the extreme right. It's coated in sugary fluff about celebrity cellulite but its main thing is the propagation of right wing propaganda.

The DM readers will no doubt see The Guardian as an organ of the far left. Who's to say you're right and they're wrong?

Frege · 21/11/2017 08:35

I'm pleased they have severed ties.

In response to people above saying, "who are SFH to determine what should be published?", it seems to me it's a purely commercial matter. Lots of people (inc me) are less likely to shop somewhere that allies itself with the DM. Shops obviously take that sort of thing into account when deciding where to promote themselves. If Paperchase thinks it will lose more customers by associating with the DM than it will gain, it won't do it. I don't see the problem with that.

GrumpyOldBag · 21/11/2017 08:36

The Guardian is not far left though! It's left of centre, yes, but it's views are not extreme.

For left wing, read The Morning Star. And maybe the new Statesman, which is a counterpoint to the Spectator.

thecatfromjapan · 21/11/2017 08:37

I really am going to stop posting soon Grin but I'm finding the responses so interesting!

Why are some people so afraid of exerting power?

It's a teeny bit of political power that consumers have available to them - in a political system that makes it quite difficult to have an oppositional voice.

I'm wondering if it's a conditioning thing: people are terrified when they see an instance of people managing to make a weeny, teeny dent in the quite considerable power of something as simple as the Daily Mail.

I think we all realise that capitalism is quite endemic and we can only make small stands against it, or compromises with it; I think we all know that the Daily Mail is not going to crumble in the face of this little gnat's bite; I think we all recognise the disproportionality of the forces ranged here.

So why the angst that there has been a teeny, weeny success against the Daily Mail?

It's a tiny thing.

Why this rush to paint the Daily Mail as a victim of censorship?

It's a massive over-reaction, and a quite ridiculous portraying of the situation?

Is it a bit like being bullied at school? People are so terrified of the school bully that, when someone stands up to the bully, all the other kids rush round to condemn the person standing up to the bully, painting the bully as a victim, because somehow they think it will a. protect them from the bully in the future b. they are terrified of what the bully is going to do in revenge c. they need to do this as a psychological defence because they can't cope with the reality that they put up with/condone/can't fight the bully every other day of their lives - and this tears at their psychological defences?

ethelfleda · 21/11/2017 08:37

Paperchase were not 'forced to apologise' ffs.

The Daily Fail is in no danger of being shutdown yet! They are huge - SFH is only a small movement in comparison. Their ethos isn't to shut down newspapers or to block free speech. Go and read about them!

caffeineanddryshampoo · 21/11/2017 08:38

YABU I think any company that publicly distances itself from a tax dodging, sexist, immigrant hating shit rag has my approval.

AssignedPerfectAtBirth · 21/11/2017 08:39

Fuck sake. Has anyone read the Daily Mail ever? Well you need to flagellate yourself soundly and go to Confession.

Not a fan of the DM but get a grip, this is nonsense