Tube bans ad urging firms to Channel hop
AN advertising campaign to attract British firms to northern France after Brexit has been banned from London Underground stations.
Urging entrepreneurs concerned about the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to ‘vote with their feet’, it was commissioned by the Normandy Development Agency.
But Transport for London (TfL) refused to run the advert because it did not comply with its advertising guidelines.
TfL does not allow images or messages that ‘relate to matters of public controversy or sensitivity’.
The advert featured a mock-up of a fictional newspaper called The Normandy Times with the headline: ‘British business owners can now vote with their feet and leave post-Brexit fears behind’.
The campaign, created by the London creative agency Splash Worldwide, will still run in national newspapers and be displayed on a bus touring Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester and London.
Another newspaper ad features a lonelyhearts column calling for a ‘hot entrepreneur’ who ‘must have an appetite for business, beautiful coastal walks and long sun-drenched lunches with wine flowing’. It adds: ‘Someone allergic to post-Brexit tariffs, legislation and restrictions preferred.’
Herve Morin, president of Normandy Regional Council, said: ‘Brexit gives Normandy a unique opportunity to welcome British businesses who decide to stay at the heart of the European Union.’