FHM pulled following outrage over Hillsborough tragedy jokes Danielle Veldre
EMAP Australia’s “lad’s” magazine FHM has been withdrawn from newsagency shelves after causing an international storm with its November issue by trivialising the Hillsborough disaster—the 1989 tragedy in which 96 people were crushed to death at a soccer match in England—with humorous captions.
The captions on pictures of people scrambling off terraces said: “Get us a beer while you’re there”; another of people being crushed behind a fence said, “Shoppers waited for the doors to open for the end-of-year sale”.
National marketing director of Kia—which advertises in FHM—Liz Katsiotis said if the magazine had been pulled she expected to be compensated.
She said that while she had not seen the offending article, “it sounds like they have stepped over the line”.
Katsiotis said her decision to advertise with FHM in the future would depend on how the magazine dealt with the issue.
The magazine was pulled due to massive international public outcry over the article. B&T Weekly’s conservative estimate put the cost to Emap at about $250,000 in ad space to compensate advertisers.
Executive publishing director of FHM Australia Geoff Campbell issued a statement on the controversy caused by the article, but a spokesperson from FHM declined to comment further.
Campbell’s statement said: “We deeply regret the photograph captions published in the November issue of the Australian edition of FHM, accompanying an article about the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. FHM Australia has its own editorial team and these captions were written and published without consultation with the UK edition, or any other edition of FHM.
“FHM Australia has clearly acted without sensitivity and in a totally inappropriate manner. We unreservedly apologise for the anguish and pain that such treatment of the Hillsborough disaster has caused to the relatives and friends of the victims, of all those present, and of all those touched by such a disaster.
“The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from sale which we will be doing. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies.
“FHM will be making a donation to both of the fighting funds after further consultation with the groups involved.”
