Unilever to stop U.S. ads on Social Media giants for rest of year
(Reuters) – Unilever PLC said on Friday it will stop advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States for the rest of the year, citing “divisiveness and hate speech during this polarized election period in the U.S.”
The consumer goods company, which owns brands like Dove Soap and Lipton tea, joins a growing advertising boycott against Facebook as part of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign started by U.S. civil rights groups after the death of George Floyd. The effort called on Facebook, which owns Instagram, to do more to stop hate speech and misinformation.
Shares of Facebook and Twitter both fell more than 7%.
“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 said in a statement.
“The Stop Hate for Profit” campaign asks businesses not to advertise on Facebook’s services in July. It focuses on specific recommendations for Facebook, though Twitter has also long been under pressure to clean up alleged abuses and misinformation on its platform.
“We have developed policies and platform capabilities designed to protect and serve the public conversation, and as always, are committed to amplifying voices from under-represented communities and marginalized groups,” said Sarah Personette, vice president for Twitter’s Global Client Solutions.
“We are respectful of our partners’ decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time.”
More than 90 advertisers including Verizon Communications Inc and The North Face, a unit of VF Corp, have joined the campaign, according to a list by ad activism group Sleeping Giants, a partner in the campaign.
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You have to question the business model and the sanity of the leadership at companies such as Twitter.
Twitter has, as one of it’s posters, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Instead of capitalising on this coup, they censor him and insult him and block his followers to the point where he will jump ship to a competing firm.
Many of his followers have already done so, and not by choice. Their accounts have been suspended.
Does this make sense to anybody else? It’s left me shaking my head.
All FAKEbook did was help add to my list of products to BOYCOTT.