INTERNATIONAL. The Moodie Davitt Report has chosen to decline any future advertising from TFWA after the association withdrew advertising from the title “in the next few months” in response to our coverage of the choice of Tony Blair as the keynote speaker at last year’s Cannes conference.
The Moodie Davitt Report was notified of the withdrawal of advertising by the TFWA’s communications agency Templemere Public Relations last week.
The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie had been heavily critical of the decision to hire Blair as a speaker for a large (though undeclared) sum, given his hugely controversial role in the Iraq war that began in 2003 [After the Chilcott inquiry into the war, one third of Britons surveyed in a YouGov poll concluded that “Mr Blair knowingly misled Parliament and the public and should be tried as a war criminal”].
Contacted by The Moodie Davitt Report, a senior TFWA executive said that the association objected to the “tone” of the articles (including a light-hearted, satirical piece entitled ‘Travel retail off-piste: First Greenland, now duty free – Trump lashes out at TFWA after bid to buy the duty free industry rejected’), while fully accepting the publication’s right to criticise Blair’s appointment.
Moodie said, “We stand by our position. However, after a frank exchange, we are happy to now draw a line under the unfortunate choice of Blair as keynote speaker. As pointed out in every article dedicated to the subject, we have much respect for TFWA and the work that it does, particularly on the charity front. As I stated in my initial Blog, ‘TFWA is a good and effective association but it has called this one wrong.’ That remains my view.
“It is important in an age characterised by the erosion of press freedom that we retain the unencumbered right to challenge decisions made by an association representing a key sector of the travel retail industry. In the case of Blair, if the ‘tone’ was critical, we believe it was also responsible.
“At this stage we believe it healthier and more transparent to continue a constructive relationship with TFWA without the question of advertising arising or being used in any way. We will continue to offer our business intelligence service free of charge to TFWA and to the wider industry and look forward to a positive relationship with the association and to continuing to report on its activities. Importantly, we are confident that the recent exchange of views will help encourage more appropriate choices of speaker in the future.”
