Gotcha 2: Sun charity lies exposed

The Sun’s attempt to discredit Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth by claiming he had handed the charity’s ad account to his brother Jon’s agency, Adam & Eve, has backfired after it emerged the move pre-dated Justin’s appointment by three months.
The story, which ran under the headline “Charity’s £700k to bro’s ad firm – Save the Children boss shells out for family’s agency”, has been slammed by the charity for “misrepresenting the transparent nature of the relationship” between the charity and the agency.
The charity disclosed the £729,343 it spent with the agency in 2014 as a related party transaction in its latest annual report, published on its website last week.
A Save the Children spokesman said: “Our relationship with Adam & Eve pre-dates Justin Forsyth working at the charity and it has been consistently and openly declared. It started after a thorough competitive tender process overseen by an external third party, and Mr Forsyth has no input in awarding any contracts to Adam & Eve.”
Justin Forsyth joined the charity in July 2010, three months after it appointed Adam & Eve after a seven-way pitch.
The Sun story claims that Adam & Eve is run by Jon Forsyth, but although he was one of four founding partners, he has never been its chief executive; he is actually communications strategy officer.
The irony that the media is trying pick on adland will not be lost on the direct marketing industry, which has suffered a similar barrage of abuse for years despite the fact that most newspaper publishers are huge users of data, direct and digital marketing techniques.