14 DAY TRIAL // Carphone Warehouse has ended its sponsorship of Big Brother after the so called racist bullying of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on the celebrity version of the Channel Four Reality TV series earlier this year.
Apparently, the retailer had been paying somewhere around ?3 million a year over the past four years to sponsor the show. After the actress was bullied by fellow contestants in January, the retailer temporarily suspended its sponsorship. Also, over 46,000 viewers complained to media regulator Ofcom over the alleged abuse.
In January, Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone said: 'Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behavior of individuals within the Big Brother house. We are totally against all forms of racism and bullying and this behavior is entirely at odds with the brand values of Carphone Warehouse.'
Since then, Carphone Warehouse has said the 'huge publicity' forced it to look for alternative sponsorship opportunities. The company said in a statement: 'We constantly review our sponsorship relationships and feel that having suspended the sponsorship during this year's Celebrity Big Brother, that now is a good time to look at the partnership again.'
'We have concluded that the huge publicity around the show and our involvement within that means it is now time to look for an alternative.'
Channel Four was confident that Carphone Warehouse would sponsor this summer's series, and after recent events, is now in talks with other companies about taking over the sponsorship. Nevertheless, it looks like Carphone will still spend a 'large proportion' of its budget on Channel Four, buying ad slots during Big Brother and ads on the website.