http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2015/06/sponsored-by-spark-report-from-the-decade-of-dirt-party-and-be-in-to-win-a-samsung-galaxy-a5/
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/06/10/why-on-earth-is-spark-celebrating-10-years-of-hate-speech/
Is this acceptable given whaleoil's history?
I don't think so.
Spark's responses on facebook
Hi Bomber, thanks for your message.
We give away a lot of mobile phones on a frequent basis to a range of media outlets, commentators and community groups. That’s all part of getting information out there about the technology we offer.
In doing so, we don’t endorse the editorial policies of any media outlet, including Whaleoil.
As we do with many other media and commentators, we occasionally interact with the Whaleoil blog on technology and Spark related matters. He’s also a Spark mobile customer we’ve had some contact with him on his own connectivity issues.
In this particular instance, we provided a couple of mid-range phones to Whaleoil as giveaways for his 10th anniversary event tonight. There was no cash or other support involved.
The way it’s been presented has perhaps made our involvement appear more substantial than it is. To help clarify, we’ve asked the Whaleoil site to remove the Spark logo and make it clear this is not a “sponsorship”
Cheers ^Sam
Hi Bomber, as above - not associating or endorsing anything, but thanks for your feedback smile emoticon ^Sam