The Carphone Warehouse drops sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother

Bullying controversy makes the company disassociate with the show

18 January 2007 15:16 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The Carphone Warehouse has announced that it's suspending its sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother, after Ofcom reported ever-mounting complaints about the show.

Many viewers have been complaining that Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is the victim of racist bullying.

“Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house. We are totally against all forms of racism and bullying and indeed this behaviour is entirely at odds with the brand values of The Carphone Warehouse”, said Charles Dunstone, CEO, in a statement.

“As a result, we feel that as long as this continues we are unable to associate our brand with the programme."

“We have already made it clear to Channel 4 that were this to continue, we would have to consider our position. Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort."

“Accordingly we have instructed Channel 4 to remove our sponsorship name and branding with immediate effect.”

However at the time of writing Channel 4 had yet to remove the Sponsored by link from its Big Brother website.

Viewing figures are said to have increased by a million since the bullying controversy started.