Besieged phone and broadband supplier Vodafone appear to be trying to take the heat out of their network problems by suddenly announcing a $400,000 donation to various charities.

Ironically the technology media that last week exposed major problems with the “ethics” and reliability of the Vodafone network were excluded from any press release or communication on the issue with the Company claiming that social network sites were their priority over technology journalists writing about the network and legal problems that Vodafone is now facing in Australia.  

The UK Company has also launched a heartstring-tugging promotion in an effort to relieve the brand and product bashing that they have been getting in the mass media from primarily technology writers.

A Vodafone spokesperson said “Yes we are making a $400,000 donation and no, we did not put out a press release to the mass technology media as we thought they would not be interested. We used our social network channels. We will get a press release out in a week or so. In the past no one has been interested in our charity donations. The Vodafone World of Difference campaign is now in its eighth year and we believe that there is more value for us at this stage using Facebook as opposed to the mass media”

“We do plan to make an announcement next week with some research about Vodafone” they added.

According to Vodafone Charities are asked to submit a claim as to why their organisation should be funded with five $60,000 salaries being picked up by the carrier along with $20,000 of expenses.