A senior News Corporation spin doctor has rushed to pull GetUp’s anti-News Corp ad from its websites after an embarrassing keyword snafu saw the ad sledging the company running alongside its own content.

The mobile versions of News websites The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, The Courier-Mail and News.com.au have all displayed the ad, which slams the tabloids for running Liberal Party propaganda during the election campaign.

A private and URGENT email sent by News Corporation head of corporate affairs Stephen Browning this evening, obtained by Crikey, pleads with Holt Street executives to remove the “anti-News ads” “VASAP” from the site.

“We are running the GetUp anti-News ads — can we pull them VASAP?,” Browning writes. VASAP is thought to be an extreme variation on the commonly used acronym ASAP (as soon as possible).

Browning includes a link to a Sydney Morning Herald online story reporting the stuff-up.

Crikey revealed on Tuesday that the ad — titled “Thanks Rupert Murdoch, but Australians can choose their own government” — had been rejected for broadcast by channels Seven, Nine and Ten, despite it being approved for broadcast by Free TV Australia’s Commercial Advice Unit.

It brands News’ offerings as “misleading crap” and features an actor scooping up his dog’s shit with a copy of The Courier-Mail containing the now infamous headline “Does this guy ever shut-up?” next to a photo of Kevin Rudd. “Don’t let the crap decide your vote,” the ad urges.

As of this evening, it had recorded nearly 440,000 hits on YouTube.

From: Browning, Stephen
Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2013 5:19 PM
Subject: URGENT

We are running the GetUp anti-News ads – can we pull them VASAP?

Cheers

Steve