Remember the I Heart JKR Poster (Edinburgh) that got loads of complaints...

[SaltandVinegarSquares]

According to Network Rail they "received complaints" (plural) about the poster, and one complaint specifically stated "rampant transphobia".

Only it turns out, they didn't.

Not a single fucking one.

Liars.

158 complaints about it's removal though.

or is that some other train company?

Would this come under an advertising thing or a rail travel ombudsmen thing?

I mean, who do we complain to?

Wasn't part of the issue that NR didn't approve of the group that funded the poster, regardless of what it actually said? I found that profoundly disturbing.

Will try and find link...

DeaconBlue the rampant transphobia etc quotes seem to come from these posts from Lewis Baird and Sorcha on twitter that the Network Rail Scotland account replied to (linked upthread).

Sorry for messing up your name there!

There's now an article on this in the Scotland section of the Times. I don't seem to be able to send a share token from my phone app, however.

Has anyone linked the response sent to Alan Henness re his FOI query? Yet another angle by Network Rail...

twitter.com/zeno001/status/1304407051746062341?s=21

(Sorry, is screenshots so no text for me to copy)

Here’s a share token for today’s Times article:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ed2f30f0-f440-11ea-aeed-ec95eac61729?shareToken=41932a1a243e2b00ee64dde03496f03b

Here you go, with share token: Article in Times on 11th September

Rowling poster removed from Waverley station despite zero public complaints

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ed2f30f0-f440-11ea-aeed-ec95eac61729?shareToken=cb26ce735cd77f6ee1205254ccb6d7e6

Sorry, should have checked before posting another share token.

Guess this was an inside job then?

I love that Times article because I think it's the first one I've read that doesn't use the phrase "anti trans". Really clear.

The state-owned company confirmed it had not been formally asked to do so by any members of the public

It makes explicit that this is a state owned company. What justification is there for its removal? Capitulating to Twitter is not an impressive look.

@MilleniumHallsWalledGarden

DeaconBlue the rampant transphobia etc quotes seem to come from these posts from Lewis Baird and Sorcha on twitter that the Network Rail Scotland account replied to (linked upthread).

Yes, that's all I can find. In which case the OP might be more accurately worded "Tweets complaining about the poster, including one claiming it amounted to "rampant transphobia" were directed to Network Rail, who stated that they removed the poster due to its 'political nature'. Press speculated that NR had received complaints; however it transpires that these were only via Tweets discussing the issue. 158 complaints about the poster's removal, including a number of Twitter posts, were counted by NR."

I think words and their meanings are important and while I think NR's stated policy is.... questionable... I can't see evidence they actually lied about receiving complaints.

It may not use the words anti-trans, but as one of the comments states, it uses quotation marks around women-only spaces. I found that annoying. In addition, the statement about the GRA is very bland and doesn’t make it clear that “self-ID” entails giving people the right to choose their legal sex with no requirement for meaningful transition or medical assessment.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3982298-I-love-JK-Rowling-poster-removed-by-Network-Rail-for-being-political-after-transphobic-complaint?pg=4

Here's the original thread where a second reply to the poster from NR started that as it was paid for by a gender reform group it fell foul of their non political posters policy.

Which is clearly bollocks if they have Pride posters up - they're happy to give a voice to some political views... just not all

@AnyOldPrion

It may not use the words anti-trans, but as one of the comments states, it uses quotation marks around women-only spaces. I found that annoying. In addition, the statement about the GRA is very bland and doesn’t make it clear that “self-ID” entails giving people the right to choose their legal sex with no requirement for meaningful transition or medical assessment.

True, but I am in a place where I need to look for the positives right now! You are right though.

@Wearywithteens

JKR - a woman who is predominately known for writing some of most loved and popular children’s books in history. JKR - a woman who respects transgender people and wants to defend the hard won rights and protections of women and girls. JKR - a woman.

There really is some truly evil ideology at work against women right now. Someone made a decision to take down that poster. Some one. Who?

More than that. Every single one of the Harry Potter books talks about rail travel. It's a central part of the whole story, with the Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 3/4 and Kings Cross station.

Doesn't NR benefit from the events around the 1st September and the publicity from the books?
They should be grovelling to JKR over this!

I see the usual suspect has commented on the Times article:

"The advertisers had lots of complaints on twitter. Companies do pay attention to social media also. Where has everybody been for the last five years if you didn't realise this?"

From what I recall, there were far more people praising the poster on Twitter than were complaining about it!

However, you would think everyone would know by now that Twitter is not real life
(see referendum result, US Presidential election, UK election 2019, M&S, Lush, Body Shop, Co-Op, etc etc etc...)

People on Twitter complain that Black people aren't being lynched enough for their liking, so the fact that something has merely been 'posted on twitter' isn't really much of an endorsement of the value of the opinion.

@RuffleCrow

I wish MN had a Retweet function.

Or at least a "like" function. I'd have a jolly time with that Ruffle! 😂

The irony of all this is that the poster has achieved its goals through the very act of having removed amid an ‘argument’.

I spoke to DH at the time it was removed about the poster. He worked in advertising purchasing planning for a major UK company. One of the areas they deal with is ‘out of home’ ie billboards. He explained that the cost of such advertising has dropped through the floor over recent months due to lockdown. In particular, ridiculously low numbers are travelling through train stations, so no one would ordinarily have seen this advert. Its ‘cost’ would have been a tiny fraction of what it should have been.

The twitter storm has achieved way more than money can buy.

I am personally invested in this. The combination of events that marked the furore over JKR’s comments and everything that has ensued have literally saved my relationship with my father. He had totally bought into the ‘fish folk’ ideology peddled by a relative with a trans child, but this was his breaking point. Ironically, he was never a HP fan. He is not on social media. He would never have seen the poster if it hadn’t been for the coverage of the withdrawal of it in his ‘traditional’ media source.

For this misstep On behalf of Network Rail, I will forever be grateful.

The irony of all this is that the poster has achieved its goals through the very act of having removed amid an ‘argument’.

Posie is an absolute genius at publicity. She has a nose for the thing that will get her column inches in newspapers. I don't know how she does it, but I'm so grateful that she does.