Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer has been criticised by pro-Palestinian and left wing groups over its past support for Zionism and for fruit trading with the state of Israel,[48] a cause which it had promoted since its inception. For instance, prior to Israel's creation, various senior figures in the company advocated Zionist ideas, with Israel Sieff, the group's chairman, advocating mass deportation in 1941 by stating that in order to found a Zionist state, "large sections of the Arab population of Palestine should be transplanted to Iraq and other Middle Eastern states." This moral support continued until the 1980s. In his 1990 memoir, M&S' former chairman, Marcus Sieff (who was chairman from 1974 until 1984), described "aiding the economic development of Israel as one of its fundamental objectives." This has led to various pressure groups calling for boycotts of M&S goods, and demonstrations to be held outside of M&S shops. In one case, a Brighton based shop was vandalised with pro-Palestinian, anti-semitic and anti-Zionist graffiti.Since that time, the company has changed, and instead states a policy that 'does not support any countries, nations, states, governments, political parties or religious bodiesM&S has always run newspaper and/or Magazine ads since the early 1950s, but the introduction of some famous stars such as Twiggy[58][59] and David Jason in various TV ads has helped raise the company's profile. Twiggy first appeared in 1967, returning later in 1995 and 2005. Anne Grierson[10] first featured in adverts during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. In later years, Erin O'Connor,[58] Myleene Klass,[58] Tanja Nadjila, Peter Kay, David Beckham,[10] Antonio Banderas,[10] Claudia Schiffer,[10] Helena Christensen,[10]