Amnesty International has expressed “immense disappointment” at The Financial Times’ eleventh-hour decision to pull an advertisement that had been timed to coincide with Shell’s London AGM.
The full-page ad focused on what Amnesty describes as Shell’s “appalling human rights record” in Nigeria and compared the company’s $9.8 billion profits with the consequences of pollution caused by the oil giant for the people of the Niger Delta.
But a last minute change of mind by the FT meant that the ad was pulled at the last minute.
“The decision by the Financial Times is extremely disappointing,” said Tim Hancock, Amnesty International UK’s campaigns director. “We gave them written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement. Both The Metro and The Evening Standard had no problems with running the ad.”
Officially, the FT has stated that there was no ulterior motive to its decision. “Editorially, the FT was more than willing to run the advertisement for Amnesty,” it said in a statement. “Unfortunately, whilst Amnesty gave us written assurances that they would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement, it became apparent that Amnesty's lawyers had not had a proper opportunity to advise Amnesty on those opinions. As a result, from a legal perspective we were unable to rely on Amnesty's assurances."
Writing on the Guardian website this afternoon, Amnesty campaign manager Naomi McAuliffe, said, “I'd find it hard to believe that Shell lent on them. Did the Financial Times get cold feet about upsetting this British blue-chip company?
“The irony of this row over the ad is that it will make even more people aware of these vital issues. We'll take the free publicity instead.”
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