Hopefully there aren't too many watchers of Sky TV out there but if you have happened upon their output doing your channel hopping exercises you might have come across sponsorship advertising from Qatar Airways. I'm sure this is a valuable advertiser for Sky so the ad sales bosses should be sweating over the recent refusal to show the Disasters Emergency Appeal for Gaza. Why? Because Qatar Airways buys advertising with Sky. Sure, the government of Qatar and its national carrier may well hope to play a duplicitous game - wearing their pro-Palestine sentiment on their sleeves at home but carrying on in the same old way abroad, and hope their own population doesn't notice.
But if the people of Qatar knew that their national airline was a sponsor of this pro-Israeli channel you would expect it to cause outrage despite the undemocratic nature of that state.
In fact just this week Qatar Airways brought into service its second Boeing 777, and guess what the plane has been called? Here's the report from Asian travel industry website Travel Blackboard:
Al Baker [Chief exec at the airline] announced that the aircraft was officially named “Gaza” in solidarity with civilian victims in the recent conflict in Gaza.So Qatar Airways names its plane 'Gaza' in solidarity with the Gazan people but at the same time is giving money to a TV channel that refuses to broadcast a humanitarian appeal for Palestinians.
“I know many of us have been deeply touched by the civilian deaths in the recent bombing of Gaza. Qatar Airways wants to recognise that innocent people, and in particular large numbers of children, were killed in these bomb attacks, and naming our latest aircraft “Gaza” is a symbolic gesture to commemorate and honour these victims.
“The name ‘Gaza’ will fly around the world on Qatar Airways and spread a message of peace and humanity,” he said.
Gaza Solidarity is contacting Qatar Airways and the Qatari government to point out this glaring contradiction. It could be that they are aware of the problem but have a contractural obligation to continue the sponsorship, but I doubt it as there is usually some small print to allow for withdrawal from ad agreements if one-party is deemed to bring the other into disrepute. This is certainly the case here.
As the economists will tell you, the advertising market is a 'leading indicator' - it's the first budget to get cut in a recession/depression, meaning Sky can ill-afford to lose one of its biggest and most valuable ad buyers. So the other call we will be making is to Sky to ask if they are worried by the likely discomfort their pro-Israeli stance will/is causing the Qataris.
As the anti-apartheid movement demonstrated in the case of South Africa money speaks louder than words. We should all ring Qatar Airways (+ 44 0207 341 6069) and ask them why they continue to advertise with a company that refuses to extend a hand of humanity to the suffering people of Gaza.
Contact Qatar-based Al Jazeera at press.int@aljazeera.net and editor@aljazeera.net
See below the Qatar Airways sponsorship of the weather on Sky News
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