Boots, Specsavers and Reckitt Benckiser add to NotW woes

In a statement released today, Specsavers said it had "pulled its advertising from the News of the World until further notice following the allegation that the paper hacked in to the mobile phones of terrorist and murder victims". 

In the last 10 minutes, Boots has issued a statement that said: "In light of the evolving situation, we have put on hold further advertising with the News of the World. An advertisement, which was printed some time ago, however, will appear in this Sunday's Fabulous magazine." 

Household goods giant, Reckitt Benckiser said it "very concerned by the recent allegations" and was pulling ads due to run later in the month. In a statement it also called for guarantees from NotW before it would consider a return.

"While we currently have no advertising running with News International titles, we have made the decision to suspend advertising with News of the World planned for later in the month, and will be seeking assurances that both current day policy is fundamentally different from that highlighted in the allegations, and measures are in place to make it impossible for such events to occur again."

The three household names are major spenders with the News of the World, spending up to £1.6m a year between them.

Figures from Nielsen suggest that over the 12 month period to the end of May 2011, Boots spent in the region of £900k with the NotW, Specsavers almost £400k and RB about £275k.