Big Issue seller hits out at £60K drinks sponsor deal

AN ORGANIC wine company has defended its controversial sponsorship of the Big Issue magazine for the homeless after some sellers described it as "like some bad, ironic joke".

The magazine has signed a 60,000 deal that will see its street sellers wearing the logo of wine producer Fairhills on new high-visibility red vests.

However, the charity's vendors believe the deal is inappropriate as many are recovering drug or alcohol addicts.

Homeless Matthew Blackman, 40, who sells the Big Issue in Bristol, reportedly described the new tabards as "wrong" and "a big mistake". He said: "It's disgusting because most vendors are either addicts or alcoholics. To be sponsored by a company that profits from that seems wrong. It's like some bad, ironic joke."

Bernard Fontannaz, founder of Fairhills in South Africa, said it had supported centres to help those with alcohol problems in South Africa "for years", and was opening its own Fairhills centre there.

He said: "By sponsoring Big Issue vendors we are helping to show our support for these schemes and for the wider issue of alcohol misuse."

Big Issue founder John Bird said: "We are enormously grateful to Fairhills for enabling us to produce a national uniform for our 3,200 vendors. Fairhills has improved vendor safety and potential earning power."