British newspaper News of the World is in a heap of trouble right now, thanks to allegations that the Sunday paper tampered with the voice mail messages of a murdered girl. The phone message tampering charges have enraged the UK public, and Ford Motor Company isn't very happy either.

Advertising Age reports that the automaker has pulled all advertising from the paper, which boasts the largest circulation in all of England. A Ford spokesperson issued a statement saying that the automaker cares about the standards of behavior of the people it deals with, adding "we are awaiting an outcome from the News of the World investigation."

Ford pulled its ad dollars after a Twitter campaign was started urging advertisers not to buy space in the paper. The campaign released 17 of the biggest advertisers, which included Ford and Renault, and suggested that people tweet messages to the companies like "Dear [@advertiser] Do you think it ethical to stock a newspaper prepared to hack a murdered girl's phone?"

It was revealed on July 4 that back in 2002, the paper listened in on the phone messages of Milly Dowler (shown at right). The girl was still considered missing at the time, and the paper went as far as to delete previously heard messages when the mailbox was filled up. This gave the family the false hope that Dowler was still alive and listening to her messages. Two other advertisers are reportedly considering following in Ford's footsteps by boycotting the paper.Ford yanks ads from News of the World over UK phone hacking scandal originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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