'Disgraceful' Co-op TV advert should be taken off air, pubs say

Sky News
Updated ·2-min read

Publicans have expressed their outrage at Co-op for a "disgraceful" television advert encouraging people to stay at home to watch the football rather than go to the pub.

The 10-second advert suggests people "stay in with two pizzas and four beers" purchased as part of a deal during EURO 2024 rather than go to the pub where, the advert says, it is "hard to see the screen".

Read all the latest Money news here

In a letter to Co-op's chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq, the Campaign for Pubs accused the supermarket of "openly and deliberately undermining pubs and publicans' livelihoods".

It added it was "disgusted, as well as deeply angry" that the advert targeted pubs at a difficult time for the industry.

Nearly 800 pubs entered insolvency in 2023, the highest number in more than a decade.

The letter read: "You and your management team must surely be aware of what a challenging time it is for pubs and publicans, yet here you are, a supposedly ethical business, openly and deliberately undermining pubs and publicans' livelihoods at this difficult time. It frankly beggars belief.

"At the time when businesses in England should be uniting in support of the national football team, the Co-op has instead cynically and shamelessly sought to attack another important business sector to try to boost your own profits from the tournament."

Read more:
Is this the death of the big night out?
Everything you need to know about Euro 2024
Your rights when your car keeps breaking down

The Campaign for Pubs has called on the Co-op to pull the advert and apologise for the campaign immediately.

But a Co-op spokesperson told the Money blog: "The 10-second advert is a light-hearted way of highlighting to our members and customers that, if they have made the choice to stay in to watch the football, we have a cracking pizza and beer deal they can purchase to enjoy in their homes, with the sole intention of providing great value on relevant products which customers tell us they want, especially at a time when the cost of living is high."

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • China cuts several major interest rates to support fragile economy

    SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China surprised markets by cutting major short and long-term interest rates on Monday, its first such broad move since August last year, signalling intent to boost growth in the world's second-largest economy just days after a Communist Party leadership meeting. The cuts to the central bank's key short-term policy rate, its market operations rates and benchmark bank lending rates came after China reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter economic data last week and its top leaders met for a plenum that occurs roughly every five years. Trade tensions are also flaring, as global leaders grow increasingly wary of China's export dominance.

  • China central bank says cuts two key rates to support economy

    China's central bank on Monday cut two benchmark interest rates in a bid to boost lagging growth in the world's second-largest economy.The one-year LPR, which constitutes the benchmark for the most advantageous rates that banks can offer to businesses and households, was cut from 3.45 percent to 3.35 percent.

  • Modi's new budget faces jobs crisis test in India

    Mr Modi's biggest challenge in his third term will be bridging the rich-poor divide.

  • China moves to pep up its slowing economy, lays out roadmap for its future

    China's ruling Communist Party released a 50-page roadmap addressing long-term challenges confronting the world's second-largest economy, while the central bank cut key interest rates Monday in a surprise move to pep up the struggling property sector. The action by the People's Bank of China was a short-term adjustment that appeared to signal a recognition that the economy needs immediate help to complement the party's broader ambitions of following leader Xi Jinping's vision for transforming China into a “high-standard socialist market economy in all respects” by 2035. “If we are to break new ground in advancing Chinese modernization on the new journey in the new era, we must continue to rely on reform and opening up,” Xi said in a written explanation of reforms endorsed last week at a four-day policy-setting meeting.

  • Fed may be on cusp of emerging from 'elevated' inflation blues

    In September 2021, after absorbing three months of price hikes that were more than double the Federal Reserve's 2% target, U.S. central bank staff and policymakers shifted from their more passive tone about inflation and began describing it as "elevated." Triggered after the personal consumption expenditures price index used by the Fed to set its inflation target topped 4% in May, June and July of that year, the elevated inflation description remains in the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee's policy statement to this day, even with the PCE now down to 2.6% and, it seems, still falling. The Fed's policy meeting next week may finally usher the word out the door.

  • Forget the gaffes - what did Biden actually do as president?

    Joe Biden has announced that he will end his candidacy for re-election.

  • Developing countries face worst debt crisis in history, study shows

    Spending on health and education being cut as nearly half of budgets are used to pay creditors, campaigners say

  • Bangladesh’s top court scraps job quotas that sparked mass protests with 114 deaths

    Decision means 93% of government jobs will be open to candidates on merit

  • US likely to cut rates 3 times this year as inflation cools, says former Fed vice-chair

    The Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates three times this year as inflation heads downward and the labour market cools, according to Richard Clarida, who was vice-chair of the US central bank from 2018 to 2022. Any further improvements in inflation data and increases in the unemployment rate in the US will inform the Fed's decision, Clarida, currently the global economic adviser for asset management giant Pimco, said in an interview in Hong Kong. Pimco's forecast is for two rate cuts,

  • Inflation, jobs and labor: The economy a new Democratic nominee will face

    With his exit from the presidential race, President Joe Biden has set the stage has set the stage for his Democratic successor to answer for the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

  • What Extending Trump’s Tax Cuts Would Mean for the Middle Class in 4 Battleground States

    As he campaigns to retake the White House, Donald Trump is rolling out a game plan for tax cuts in an attempt to lure voters over to his side, specifically in battleground states where the ballots...

  • Only one in 10 jobless people obliged to try to find work, key Blairite warns

    Only one in 10 economically inactive people getting benefits must show they are trying to find work, a report from a New Labour grandee has found.

  • A new round of Trump tariffs on China would drastically slow its economy

    Donald Trump has said he could impose a 60% tariff on Chinese imports if he returns to the White House.

  • China central bank cuts two key rates to support flagging economy

    China's central bank on Monday cut two benchmark interest rates in a bid to boost lending and kickstart growth in the world's second-largest economy.- Sluggish growth - The economy slowed sharply in the second quarter, with data last Monday showing growth of 4.7 percent, well below expectations and sharply down from 5.3 percent in the previous three months.

  • Economy booms but India's young hanker for government jobs

    PRAYAGARAJ, India/MUMBAI (Reuters) -Sunil Kumar, a 30-year-old, has spent the last 9 years of his life chasing a job in the Indian government. Packed with scores of others in makeshift classrooms under tin roofs with barely enough light and air, Kumar has spent years cramming for a variety of tests, including the prestigious civil services exam needed to get a job as a federal government bureaucrat. A resident of Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, Kumar says he will continue to try for a government job until he turns 32, three years short of the cut-off for him to appear in a civil services exam.

  • Oil prices rise as China cuts interest rates; Gaza ceasefire in focus

    Investing.com-- Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Monday, recovering some measure of recent losses on hopes of improving economic conditions in top importer China after the country unexpectedly lowered borrowing costs.

  • Bank of Canada expected to cut rates next week as inflation slows

    The Bank of Canada is widely expected to cut its key overnight rate on Wednesday for a second time in as many months, after recent data showed a further easing of consumer price inflation, restrained spending and a lackluster economic outlook. The BoC trimmed its policy interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75% last month after keeping it at its highest in more than two decades for nearly a year. A Reuters poll released on Friday showed nearly three-quarters of economists surveyed from July 16 to July 19 expected a cut in policy rate to 4.50% this week.

  • Indians flock to cram schools hoping to secure government jobs

    STORY: Packed into a classroom in the Indian city of Prayagraj, students cram for a variety of tests.This includes the prestigious civil services exam, in which passing it is needed to get a job as a federal government bureaucrat.According to government figures, 220 million people applied for federal jobs between 2014 and 2022……of whom 722,000 were selected.Tens of millions of young Indians chase government jobs every year , some repeatedly, even as the private sector expands.Despite living in the world’s fastest-growing major economy, the trend underscores cultural and economic anxieties facing many Indians.Many grapple with an uncertain employment market where job opportunities, let alone job security, are hard to come by. Some, like Sunil Kumar, see government employment as more secure than private-sector jobs.He said he “would have worked in the private sector like any common man” if there was ‘no security in government jobs.”For Maroof Ahmed, who has been running a cram school in Prayagraj since 2014, this has meant good business.He says his academy currently tutors some 25,000 - 30,000 students a year across five branches, through physical and online classes.Success rates are low, with about 5-10% securing jobs, but demand remains high, he said."This is one of the worst times as it has never happened in the past that so many students have applied for a government job vacancy announcement. There are very limited vacancies but there is an increased number of aspirants for these (government job) vacancies.”Across all levels of government, including armed forces, schools, health services and the military, nearly 6 million jobs remain unfilled, India's main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has estimated.An email to the federal government seeking data on government employment and vacancies was not answered.

  • Trump Wants To Eliminate Income Taxes: Here’s What That Would Mean for the Economy and Your Wallet

    Former president Donald Trump recently suggested that he is considering instituting a policy of tariffs that would lead to the elimination of the federal income tax. Check Out: Trump-Era Tax Cuts Are...

  • Trump takes a big lead over Harris in betting odds for November, but one Dem is a surprise with her chances

    Third on the list is none other than former First Lady Michelle Obama, who left the White House in 2017