This advert displayed on a bus stop is misleading in a number of ways. First, it suggests that West Ham own the stadium, which we don’t. We rent it for 25 days per year for £2.5m. The advert makes no mention of Athletics, Music concerts, Rugby or other events hosted there.
The figure appears to be based on the £752m total it cost to build the stadium twice and conveniently misses the small point that the first £537m was budgeted and used to host the London 2012 Olympics before it was rebuilt as a multi-use stadium.
Finally, in reality, the taxpayer’s funds to build the stadium twice came National Lottery payers and London taxpayers and not the whole country!
We seem to be the constant butt of jokes on this issue and often hear the chorus ‘We paid for the stadium’ from visiting fans.
Complaints can be made online to the Advertising Standards Authority at https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html
It’s a pity there is no longer a right to reply on the TV, because if there was I’m sure we would have replied some time ago with just the facts you have shown here Sean.
Thanks for pointing this out Sean and for the link to the ASA. This sort of crap has gone since the Tevez afair when we allowed ourselves to be robbed by Sheffield Utd with the aid of the media. ‘Alternate facts’ get created and gain a life of their own too often these days. We mustn’t let it happen again. As you point out, this is factually incorrect. As many people as posible should complain to the ASA. As far as Kwiff are concerned, I work with a Spurs fan who is a HiFi enthusiast and even to this day, won’t have anything to do with JVC becasue of their association with Arsenal in the past. Kwiff think its a good idea to try and profit from making fun of West Ham… the obvious conclusion is spread the word to Irons fans and so long Kwif as far we are concerned. A cheap shot by them. Pathetic.
Thanks for drawing this to our attention Shaun. I have complained to the ASA via the link provided. It only took a couple of minutes and I encourage everybody else to do the same. Oh yes and boycott Kwiff, whoever they are.
Great work, Shaun; I’ve complained. In a time when the entire definition of ‘fact’ has been thrown into question, I think it’s our duty to report rubbish like this that does nothing to educate, and everything to divide. I suspect they’ve tried a slightly different tack on Paddy Power’s mickey-taking ads, and got it entirely wrong. Idiots.
Lighten up lads, I think you’ll find it’s a joke… I for one found it mildly amusing