Ruffneck Scarves pulls all sponsorship from Steven Cohen and WSD

LFCNY Press Release

Ruffneck Scarves pulls all sponsorship from Steven Cohen and WSD.

New York, Thursday, 18th June, 2009 - The LFCNY is pleased to announce that another major advertiser has pulled its advertising from Steven Cohen’s show World Soccer Daily. Ruffneck Scarves a mainstay of WSD and Fox Football Fone In has ended its sponsorship with immediate effect.

Jeff McIntyre of Ruffneck Scarves spoke of shoddy dealings by Steven Cohen throughout the LFCNY boycott campaign. Jeff says, that amongst other things, “Steven Cohen made calls into one of our strategic partners to try to sabotage our deal, because we voiced our displeasure with what had transpired as a result of his negative comments regarding Hillsborough.” And this was before Ruffneck Scarves had made any decision to join the LFCNY boycott.

Conor Brennan, VP of LFCNY and the Co-ordinator of the LFCNY campaign against Steven Cohen, said that he had been in discussions with Jeff McIntyre for quite some time. “Early on, we recognized that Ruffneck Scarves was genuinely trying to do the right thing, trying to protect its business and employees and honor its advertising contracts, while being horrified and outraged by Steven Cohen’s hateful lies and and smears against the 96, Hillsborough and Liverpool fans worldwide.” The LFCNY removed Ruffneck Scarves from the boycott list while discussions were continuing.

But Steven Cohen’s lies and blatant disregard for a cornerstone sponsor continued. Ruffneck invested in hundreds of custom World Soccer Daily scarves as part of a promotional giveaway to be executed at Fado pubs during Champions League viewings with World Soccer Daily. When Fado pubs pulled its sponsorship from WSD, Cohen’s answer to Ruffneck about alternatives for promotion and return of merchandise was essentially, “tough!” Again, Ruffneck Scarves were not part of the LFCNY boycott at this time.

Every time Steven Cohen discussed Hillsborough and repeated his lies, Ruffneck Scarves was deluged by emails of outrage and not only from Liverpool fans. Basically, Ruffneck’s continued collaboration with Steven Cohen became toxic to its survival.

Several other companies have discovered that allowing its name to be associated with a merchant of hate such as Steven Cohen has also proved toxic to them. Steven Cohen lies and everyone gets hurt - Liverpool fans, the families of the 96 dead, his sponsors. Jeff McIntyre puts the Hillsborough tragedy into some perspective when he says, “the Hillsborough tragedy was just that, a tragedy, and should not be used in a public forum to "blame. Were the residents of Indonesia asked to ‘share the blame’ for the tsunami?”

Conor Brennan says that the boycott will continue and that any new sponsors who decide that they want to give their money to Steven Cohen to allow him to continue with his lies and hate will be contacted, letting them know how their money is being spent and what is being said in their name. “Just because we have been quiet publicly recently does not mean that the campaign has gone away. We have been in very serious discussions with other sponsors and the next week will see more of them joining the boycott against the lies and hate of Steven Cohen”, says Brennan, “Ruffneck Scarves was an example of how we are conducting this campaign - with respect and understanding for the sponsors, while being very firm in our position, continuing our discussions until we achieved our objective.”
/ENDS

Conor Brennan,
VP LFCNY
www.lfcny.org
Co-ordinator of the LFCNY campaign against Steven Cohen.