Campaign against pro-hunting website backfires on LACS

Tesco has removed adverts for its equestrian clothing range from pro-hunting website The Master’s Voice after pressure from the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS).

But the furore around the ads, which featured a blonde woman dressed in all black standing next to a horse, has seen traffic to The Master’s Voice website (www.themastersvoice.co.uk) boosted.

Editor Midge Todhunter said: “Clicks on the website seem to be growing every month.

“The ad was click-through marketing which wasn’t really working for us so I was planning to take it off the website anyway, but we did get a new advertiser on the back of all the publicity in The Mirror.

“We are not promoting anything illegal so I can’t see what LACS’s problem was with us.”

The story in the Mirror (on 27 July), which quoted LACS chief executive Douglas Batchelor calling the ads “horrendously stupid” and “inappropriate”, forced the multi-national grocer to can the ads immediately and blame its online marketing company, TradeDoubler, for placing them.

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We don’t have a view on the subject. We have a lot of customers with sorts of different views.

“The ads were placed by our affiliate marketing company TradeDoubler. We didn’t place the ads.”

TradeDoubler was contacted by H&H but failed to return our calls.

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