This afternoon Vodafone officially confirmed that they will not be boycotting GB News, four hours after Guido exclusively revealed that Vodafone’s social media team had gone rogue and wrongly claimed that Vodafone would blacklist the channel. One source described the Manchester-based social media team as “blue and purple haired lunatics”. However, the Vodafone boycotting saga has continued throughout the day…  

After a disgruntled customer messaged Vodafone directly and asked why they were boycotting GB News, a lefty loony working in Vodafone’s customer service explained that it was because of the channel’s promise to “combat so-called cancel culture”. The irony… 

The official Vodafone account then tweeted an apology, explaining that they “place our adverts in a broad spread of outlets” and they “haven’t boycotted GB News”. However, like Octopus Energy, Vodafone are waiting to “to make a commercial assessment of its [GB News’s] quality and reach”.

However, we wouldn't choose to advertise on a new channel, preferring instead to wait to make a commercial assessment of its quality and reach. With GB News still in its infancy, we do not have plans to advertise with it at this stage. 2/2

— Vodafone UK (@VodafoneUK) June 17, 2021

Vodafone, like many corporations, has junior people in customer-facing roles who are – in the age of social media – quite capable of dragging their brand’s reputation through the mud…