Paperchase has said it will not run any more marketing campaigns with the Daily Mail after an online backlash over an offer on the newspaper’s front page.

The stationery chain received hundreds of complaints on social media over the weekend over its promotion in Saturday’s Daily Mail offering readers free wrapping paper.

In response to the decision, the Mail blamed “internet trolls orchestrated by a small group of hard-left Corbynist individuals” trying to “suppress legitimate debate”.

The social media complaints, encouraged by the advocacy group Stop Funding Hate, called on Paperchase to end their relationship with the newspaper.

Over the weekend, Stop Funding Hate tweeted:

"After a torrid few weeks of divisive stories about trans people, is a Daily Mail promotion really what customers want to see @FromPaperchase? #StartSpreadingLove #StopFundingHate"

In response, Paperchase invited their Twitter followers to share their views.

On Monday, a statement on the stationery chain’s Twitter page read:

"We’ve listened to you about this weekend’s newspaper promotion. We now know we were wrong to do this - we’re truly sorry and we won’t ever do it again. Thanks for telling us what you really think and we apologise if we have let you down on this one. Lesson learnt."

The decision has infuriated some commentators on social media.

The journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer pledged to lead a boycott of Paperchase, describing the decision as “bloody absurd”.

Piers Morgan tweeted: “I hope @FromPaperchase understand that British people don’t like snivelling little cowards who let themselves get bullied into virtue-signalling bulls**t. I’ll buy my cards from @ClintonsTweet in future.”

Infowars’ editor-at-large, Paul Joseph Watson, urged the firm to “stop apologising for nothing because a few snowflakes complained, you utter clowns”.

A spokesman for the Daily Mail said: “The Mail has only run one promotion with Paperchase – who are not an advertiser – and had no plans for any more, so it is disingenuous of them to say it won’t be repeated.

“However it is deeply worrying that Paperchase should have allowed itself to be bullied into apologising – on the back of a derisory 250 Facebook comments and 150 direct tweets – to internet trolls orchestrated by a small group of hard-left Corbynist individuals seeking to suppress legitimate debate and impose their views on the media. Has the company considered what message they are sending to the 4 million people who read the Daily Mail on Saturday, many of whom will be their customers?

“It is one of the fundamental principles of free and fearless journalism that editorial decisions are not dictated by advertisers or commercial partners, and we are sure anyone who values freedom of expression will be as appalled as we are by Stop Funding Hate’s attempts to threaten the Mail and other newspapers.”
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