Not the World Cup: Sportswashing claim on our London buses
TfL decision to allow ad from banned Qatar on their buses to be looked at by Mayor
Friday, 18th November 2022
QATAR was able to sidestep a ban on advertising on London’s transport network after securing host status for the World Cup, the London Assembly has heard.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said he would be looking into how it was able to score wraparound ads on the side of buses.
Qatar is on a list of countries which are banned from booking ads due to its human rights record.
But there is no ban on FIFA, which did get to take the space, complete with Qatar’s World Cup mascot La’eeb.
Emma Best, a Conservative London Assembly Member, said: “TfL’s explanation as to why this was allowed was because it was from FIFA and not from Qatar. What we’ve allowed on our network is sportswashing… That FIFA advert could have been stopped.”
Mr Khan, who was taking questions from assembly members last month, said: “The assembly member makes a really powerful point. Can I take this away and come back to you?”
