Hutchison takes revenge on the media
April 29, 2004
In a move to counter the negativity bad press on its 3G coverage around the world and especially its home base in Hong Kong, Hutchison is believed to have boycotted advertising in certain local papers to show its fury over the coverage.
It has been reported Hutchison's advertisement displays were not in two of the most influential and popular paper in Hong Kong, the highly praised Apple Daily and the English-language South China Morning Post. Displays were also down on others.
A manager at one of the affected paper confirmed Hutchison has indeed withdrawn all advertising from their paper because of certain coverage of the company they don't like.
The manager said Hutchison Whampoa has "very clearly expressed that they are clearly unhappy with our coverage of their 3G business."
Hong Kong newspapers are known for their ruthless in shading anything they don't like. Hutchison is used to getting its own ways in the region, and the media risks losing large advertisement revenues by writing negative stories of the company.
On the launch of Hutchison's 3G mobile service, a local paper reported that "the picture quality was less than satisfactory and although the video download capability was new, the clips were nothing special."
Recently, a paper questioned the status of Hutchison's 3G operation in Italy and UK. They raised doubts over the firm's survival in the Italian market and also highlighted problems with the 3G business in the UK.
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