Wickes joins Co-op and Aldi in suspending News of the World ads

Wickes said: “Wickes will not be advertising in the News of the World whilst the investigation into their conduct is in progress. Any decisions around advertising with News of the World will be made following the outcome of the investigation.”

The Co-operative Group was the first big-name retailer to pull advertising from the News of the World after its members rebelled against an earlier decision not to.

Following revelations that the newspaper had hacked the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, potentially jeopardising the police hunt for her, there have been calls for companies to review whether they should continue to run advertising in the tabloid.

The email addresses of chief executives at big advertisers, including Tesco’s Phil Clarke and Dixons’ John Browett, were circulated online and people encouraged to contact them to make their views known.

Big retailers are closely monitoring the situation, which is changing rapidly. Only yesterday the Co-op said it would continue to advertise in the News of the World.

Today however the retailer made an about-turn and said: “The Co-operative Group has taken the decision to suspend temporarily any further advertising and promotional activity with the News of the World until the outcome of the investigation is known.

“The group is a consumer-owned business which adheres to strong ethical standards. These allegations have been met with revulsion by the vast majority of members who have contacted us.

“We would urge everyone involved to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion for the sake of all those who are affected by these events.”

Hard discounter Aldi also said it would pull advertising from the News of the World’s Irish edition. The retailer has not advertised in the UK edition since last year but did in Ireland last weekend.

An Aldi statement given to The Guardian said: “We are reviewing our advertising in the Irish edition and are not planning any future adverts in this newspaper pending the outcomes of the external investigations.”