Big brands stops advertising on Facebook and Instagram

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Color of Change, Common Sense, Free Press and Sleeping Giants are partners in the Stop Hate for Profit campaign. They asked advertisers to pull their spending from Facebook in July, and published recommendations on how the social network can address hate speech. In a statement released on June 17, they asked advertisers to withdraw their advertising spend from Facebook in July. Recommendations have also been published on how the social network could deal with hate speech. They want to draw Mark Zuckerberg’s attention to the catastrophic impact that Facebook and Instagram have on society.

Supporters

People care about brands and their acts. That’s why it was so important that three fahion brands, North Face, Patagonia and REI joined the movement on 19 June. The boycott has been covered by the Financial Times, CNN and The Wall Street Journal, among others. The groups behind the boycott became more aggressive last week with a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times that urged marketers to stop spending on Facebook in July. 360i, a digital advertising agency sent an email to clients saying it supports the boycott.

June 24. Unilever’s icecream brand Ben & Jerry’s, Eddie Bauer and Canadian outdoor goods company Arc’teryx have joined the #StopHateForProfit campaign, pausing paid advertising on Facbeook and Instagram.

June 26. Verizon became the largest advertiser to pause its spend on Facebook following an open letter from the Anti-Defamation League that pointed to an ad for the telecommunications brand appearing next to a video from QAnon, a conspiracy group.

The U.S. division of Honda became the first automotive marketer to join the Facebook advertiser boycott. The brand in a press statement said that it would pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July in a move “to stand with people united against hate and racism.” American Honda joining the fray followed Unilever’s announcement that it would pause all advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter until at least the end of the year in the U.S.

Responsible Digital Ecosystem

According to the statement published on Unilever’s website on 26 June, Unilever has long been at the forefront of providing industry leadership within a changing digital supply chain,  and they’ve continued to evolve the approach to address societal issues for more responsible platforms, content and infrastructure.

Through the new framework, they are actively engaging with all digital platforms to make meaningful change and impact trust and transparency. They have made substantial progress, but there is much more to be done, especially in the areas of divisiveness and hate speech during this polarized election period in the U.S. The complexities of the current cultural landscape have placed a renewed responsibility on brands to learn, respond and act to drive a trusted and safe digital ecosystem.

„Given our Responsibility Framework and the polarized atmosphere in the U.S., we have decided that starting now through at least the end of the year, we will not run brand advertising in social media newsfeed platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the U.S. Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society. We will be monitoring ongoing and will revisit our current position if necessary.”

Unilever will maintain the total planned media investment in the U.S. by shifting to other media.

The list of supporting companies on the “#StopHateforProfit” page is constantly growing. At present, there are almost 100, including Coca-Cola, Diageo, Levi’s, Mozilla and Viber, well known on the Hungarian market, lined up.