From Iceland — MP Questions Pulling Of Anti-Whaling Ads

MP Questions Pulling Of Anti-Whaling Ads

Published July 1, 2011

A member of parliament has written an open letter to Isavia, questioning their decision to break their contract with IFAW and pull down ads asking tourists not to eat whale meat.
As Grapevine reported, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) had a contract with Isavia, the company that runs the Keflavík International Airport, to have ads on display in the airport for the whole summer which advised tourists to go whale watching but to not eat whale meat. Isavia has since asked IFAW to review the content of the ad for changes, and to have them taken down in the meantime, even though the ads were initially approved by Isavia and have in fact been on display since April. IFAW spokesman Sigursteinn Másson says he is considering suing for breach of contract.
Social Democrat MP Mörður Árnason has now joined the discussion, openly questioning the obtuseness of Isavia’s decision.
Writing on his blog, Mörður asks a number of pointed questions.
“I understand fine that whale hunters are complaining,” he writes. “But is something wrong with pointing out that in order to sell tourists whale meat for consumption, the whales need to be hunted and killed?” He then asks the company to explain what rules they have regarding ads in the airport, who decided the ads violated any of these rules, and which ones were broken.
For now, Isavia has remained tight-lipped about the decision, saying only that on further review, they felt the ads broke their “ethical guidelines”.

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