The Sun is facing mounting pressure to ditch its famous page 3 slot, after activists mounted a nationwide petition to discuss an advertising boycott.
Campaigners organising themselves via Facebook have been camped outside five supermarkets seeking signatures from shoppers to support their aim, whilst labelling the feature as a sexist hangover from the 1970s that is out of place in supermarket geared toward the family market.
Letters have also been issued to the big four supermarket chains; Tesco, Morrison’s, Asda and Sainsbury’s requesting a meeting to discuss advertising in the paper. Tesco and Morrison’s have agreed to discuss the matter but it was an issue for The Sun, both Sainsbury’s and Asda have refused.
‘No More Page 3’ founder Lucy-Anne Holmes, said: "Supermarkets are selling family values and yet they are advertising with a newspaper that encourages people to see women not as a human but as an object. We are calling for them to stop advertising with the Sun and send out a really positive message that they value their female customers.
"I think there is a shift happening in our culture where Page 3 is becoming increasingly unacceptable. It is part of a 70s environment that helped create this Savile culture of grabbing and groping, and it has no place in the 21st century."
The group has thus far accrued some 51,000 signatures of support on a change.org petition.