Renault UK, for instance, told its 2,800 followers that the brand “has no media advertising planned with NOTW" and doesn’t plan any until a formal investigation has been executed.
Mitsubishi used Twitter as as forum to announce -- at a Facebook user’s suggestion -- that it is donating its NOTW ad spend to a charity.
Ford UK, meanwhile, didn’t announce its pullout on Twitter, but directed a follower to the company’s release on the matter.
The flurry of activity is being spurred by campaigners who are using Twitter as a vehicle to lobby the brands to take a position on the matter. One site even has a list of ready-made tweets that users can fire at the advertisers.
According to Marketing Week, a consumer campaign of 6,000-plus tweets prompted The Co-Operative to pull advertising after it had initially planned to stay the course. Other advertisers have been lobbied via Twitter as well, including bookseller WH Smith, which has gotten close to 6,000 tweets, and Virgin Media, which has received more than 4,000.
The pressure comes as UK Prime Minister David Cameron called for a public inquiry over the News of the World’s “absolutely disgusting” phone hacking allegations. The tabloid publication, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, is accused of hacking into the voicemail of a missing teenage girl, Milly Dowler, in pursuit of a scoop. Serial killer Levi Bellfield was found guilty last month for the 2002 murder.