B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • State of Origin
  • WPP
  • NRL
  • AFL
  • B&T Women in Media
  • Pinterest
  • Thinkerbell
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Meta
  • EssenceMediaCom
  • Foxtel
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: Suncorp Bank Cancels All Ads In The Australian Following Bill Leak Cartoon Furore
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Media > Suncorp Bank Cancels All Ads In The Australian Following Bill Leak Cartoon Furore
Media

Suncorp Bank Cancels All Ads In The Australian Following Bill Leak Cartoon Furore

Staff Writers
Published on: 8th August 2016 at 11:07 AM
Staff Writers
Share
3 Min Read
Bill Leak's offensive cartoon
SHARE

Suncorp Bank has made the decision to remove its advertising from The Australian following the controversy of the Bill Leak cartoon depicting Indigenous Australians, which received a landslide of criticism.

Suncorp announced on Twitter that it “definitely [does] not support the cartoon”.

UPDATE: Suncorp denies it will pull all ads from The Australian.

In addition, it claimed it is “working with our media placement agencies to remove our advertising from this content”.

@Vandellous We are now working with our media placement agencies to remove our advertising from this content. – Isabelle

— Suncorp Bank (@suncorpbank) August 5, 2016

@BlayneTreadgold We have removed our advertising from the content, and have temporarily suspended any future placements. 1/2

— Suncorp Bank (@suncorpbank) August 5, 2016

@BlayneTreadgold We utilise a number of different sites for our advertising, and in most cases the placements are selected at random. 2/3

— Suncorp Bank (@suncorpbank) August 5, 2016

@BlayneTreadgold Placements do not reflect the page or article. – Isabelle

— Suncorp Bank (@suncorpbank) August 5, 2016

In addition to this blow for The Oz, the Adelaide Festival is now also reviewing further ads, claiming it placed its current ads on the website “well in advance of Bill Leak’s disgraceful cartoon”.

Per The Guardian, the festival said, “The Adelaide festival does not endorse the sentiments of Bill Leak’s cartoon. The festival deplores all forms of racism and editorial commentary that vilifies Australia’s First Nations people: it betrays the complex economic, social and cultural issues that face many Indigenous communities with racist stereotypes.

“The Adelaide festival and the artistic directors, Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy, have a long history of providing a platform for contemporary Indigenous creative expression and will continue to do this proudly into the future.

“It is through the power of creative storytelling that the diversity of Indigenous history and experiences have most successfully been shared with the broader Australian community.”

But amid the vitriol, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Paul Whittaker defended the cartoon, maintaining, “Bill Leak’s confronting and insightful cartoons force people to examine the core issues in a way that sometimes reporting and analysis can fail to do”.

Leak published the following cartoon in the wake of the criticism, poking fun at the criticism both him and the paper received.

c857cbfc300dd930d6cff99743b6dbea

 

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: Advertising Standards Bureau, bill leak, Newcastle Herald, Workplace
Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

Cindy Rose Appointed WPP CEO
10/07/2025
Dame Lisa Carrington.
Zespri Teams Up With World Champion Kayaker Dame Lisa Carrington In Global Partnership
10/07/2025
Agency Scorecard: EssenceMediacom
10/07/2025
Agency Scorecard: It’s Friday
10/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?