Brexit Campaign Leaflet Draws Fire From Companies -- Update

By Simon Zekaria 

LONDON -- A clutch of multinational companies, including General Electric Co., Unilever PLC and Airbus Group SE, are protesting the use of their corporate names and logos on promotional leaflets sent by campaigners pushing for Britain to leave the European Union.

As a June 23 referendum here on whether to remain in the bloc approaches, polls indicate a tight race. That has led to an intensifying battle between both sides for the backing of large companies or prominent businesspeople.

For many executives, the vote is a crucial one. Several big companies -- based in the U.K. and elsewhere -- have stepped up their public support for a vote to remain in the EU. Executives have warned a "leave" vote could cause widespread uncertainty over everything from trade tariffs for British imports and exports to hiring and investment plans in the U.K.

Leave campaigners, meanwhile, have won the endorsement of several big British business figures and many smaller U.K. companies. They have championed a Britain unencumbered by EU regulations and other ties that they say hold British business back.

Late Wednesday, senior executives at Airbus, GE and Unilever complained to Vote Leave, the lead campaigning group advocating a vote for an exit, that their corporate names and logos were being used inappropriately for "propaganda purposes," implying those companies were advocating a British exit from the bloc, or "Brexit."

Vote Leave has been designated by the government as the official group to represent the camp for leaving the EU. As such, it receives some government funding to support its campaign.

On a page of the Vote Leave leaflet, and under the heading, "Would jobs be at risk?," the logos of the three companies are displayed, along with those of car makers Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors Co.'s British unit Vauxhall.

"EU regulations make it harder for British firms to hire staff. Major employers like Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Unilever, GE and Airbus have all said they'll stay in the U.K. whatever the result of the referendum," the leaflet said. Few companies -- big or small -- have threatened to leave the U.K. altogether in the event of a vote to leave.

Executives for some of the companies listed in the pamphlet complained that it made it appear they were backing Brexit.

Unilever Chief Executive Paul Polman, along with Mark Elborne, GE's chief for the U.K. and Ireland, and Paul Kahn, president of Airbus in the U.K., wrote in a joint letter that the leaflets are an "act of bad faith towards our companies." The executives said the leaflet, sent to tens of millions of voters in the U.K., is "highly misleading" and distorts their companies' official position of being in favor of Britain remaining in the EU. The letter continued: "We believe that -- for jobs and investment -- Britain is better off in Europe."

A representative for Vote Leave didn't respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Vauxhall said separately the leaflet countered the company's position of favoring Britain remaining in the EU.

"For the U.K. not to be part of the EU would be undesirable for our business and the sector as a whole," the spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Nissan said the leaflet "grossly misrepresents" the company's neutral position on the vote.

Toyota wasn't immediately available for comment.

Write to Simon Zekaria at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2016 15:42 ET (19:42 GMT)

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