Sorry, Carla, it was on this thread. Have copied for you.
People boycotting/ and or reporting the independent or guardian is not quite the same IMO as people boycotting/ reporting an internet site like mumsnet.
Presumably the big papers have far more funds and legal expertise at their disposal. They will not suddenly be losing a huge chunk of their
running costs by refusing to carry a single Milupa ad.
Mumsnet is much more vulnerable, isn't it? It is run on a near shoestring by semi volunteers. The Milipa ad revenue represents, from what I have
read, three months of server costs. What would have happenend if the team had announced that the loss of income meant closing the site?. Or
that this latest problem, even though partly their fault, was the final straw and their family commitments had to come first?
If you boycott The Independent you are doing it a a personal protest. You may tell friends and pressure groups of your decision, but you are not sharing and discussing your viewpoint with the entire readership of the newspaper! Boycotting a website like mumsnet and then posting on talk about it, is a lot more public, isn't it? I am sure many people did contact the team direct with their views on the legality of the ad. What then was the advantage of stirring up lots of talk threads too?
I am not saying it's wrong to take a stand against the milupa ads. But reporting the milupa ad on mumsnet to outside agencies, sorry, but however much you say you are not bringing mumsnet into this, in my humble opinion you are - because you are saying mumsnet accepted the ad. Anyone can click on the milupa site and advice line - no reason why the team did not do that themselves. So to say, of course mumsnet is not involved as the team is completly ignorant of its content is a bit daft? I am sure you will disagee with me, fair enough - I think we will have to agree to disagree here.
I understand the team were on holiday and would be meeting to discuss things when everyone was back. Did mumsnet HQ really get a chance to sort this out themselves? Might it have been better for mumsnet to do its own policing and contact
milupa direct? In the last few days, I saw a real risk of mumsnet closing, because of the way a group of people felt about one advertiser.
giraffeski, I don't presume to know everyone's finances and can understand that a sub might be out of reach for some people. However, from what I understand, if everyone contributed a minimum of 10 pounds it would completely cover the costs of running MN. I'm on the US and don't know current conversions, but I believe that is around $20 or less than $2 a month. Not a huge sum, really.