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Ben & Jerry's joins Facebook advertising boycott over racism Facebook to be hit by its largest ever advertiser boycott over racism
(about 4 hours later)
Ice-cream maker will suspend paid ads on Facebook and Instagram in US over inaction on hate speech Brands including North Face, Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia pulling out in July over hate speech policing
Ben & Jerry’s has become the latest business to join a growing number pulling advertising from Facebook over the platform’s failure to do more to remove hate speech. Facebook will be confronted with its largest ever advertiser boycott in July, as a coalition of some of America’s biggest brands, including The North Face, Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia, commit to pulling advertising from the platform in a row over its policing of hate speech.
The ice-cream maker, which is owned by the Anglo-Dutch group Unilever, will pause all paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the US. The boycott has been coordinated by the campaign group Stop Hate for Profit, set up after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which put out a call to businesses “to stand in solidarity with our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality and justice and not advertise on Facebook’s services in July”.
This week the outdoor clothing retailers The North Face, Patagonia and REI also withdrew advertising from Facebook. Ben & Jerry’s, a Unilever brand known for its social activism, became the latest advertiser to join the campaign on Wednesday, pulling all advertising in the US, as Facebook stared down another wave of criticism for its inaction over hate speech on its site. Three outdoor clothing firms – The North Face, Patagonia and Rei – announced this week that they were removing their adverts from Facebook and Instagram.
Unilever has been approached for comment. The company owns brands including PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle and Dove soap. In a repeat of the crisis that began the boycott, a tweet posted by Donald Trump has again been declared “abusive” by Twitter, yet left up on Facebook.
Ben & Jerry’s made the move after the launch of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign group in the US. It was set up after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed while being detained by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, in Minneapolis, and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests. “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning. “If they try they will be met with serious force!”. Later that day, the post was blocked on Twitter, with a warning that “This tweet violated the Twitter Rules about abusive behavior”. On Facebook, however, the same post remained visible with no warning, and has gained more that 200,000 interactions from users.
Stop Hate for Profit is taking on Facebook after its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, failed to take action on inflammatory posts made by Donald Trump and widespread racism on the platform. Facebook’s perceived refusal to apply its moderation policies against Trump has been widely criticised. In early June, when it preserved a post from the president declaring “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, civil rights leaders condemned its CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his refusal to acknowledge the context of the message.
Ben & Jerry’s said it was standing with the campaign and “all those calling for Facebook to take stronger action to stop its platforms from being used to divide our nation, suppress voters, foment and fan the flames of racism and violence, and undermine our democracy”. The three activist leaders – the heads of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Color of Change – met Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, and Sheryl Sandberg, its chief operating officer.
After the death of Floyd, Ben & Jerry’s chief executive, Matthew McCarthy, said business should be held accountable as he set out plans to increase diversity. Vanita Gupta, Sherrilyn Ifill and Rashad Robison said in a statement: “He did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump’s call for violence against protesters. Mark is setting a very dangerous precedent for other voices who would say similar harmful things on Facebook.”
Facebook has previously said it is committed to “advancing equity and racial justice … We’re taking steps to review our policies, ensure diversity and transparency when making decisions on how we apply our policies, and advance racial justice and voter engagement on our platform”. Facebook’s failure to act prompted the call from Stop Hate for Profit, a coalition of groups including the NAACP, Color of Change, and Sleeping Giants, a non-profit organisation that campaigns against advertisers spending on hate sites.
The Stop Hate for Profit campaign was launched by advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Color Of Change. The group has a series of demands for Facebook that go beyond taking down Trump’s posts and include removing “all ads from content labeled as misinformation or hate”.
Stop Hate for Profit has called on advertisers to pressure Facebook to adopt stricter measures against racist and hateful content by stopping all advertising spend on Facebook throughout July. In 2019, the social network had advertising revenue of almost $70bn (£56bn). As well as receiving support from large advertisers, the group has been backed by a number of ad agencies, and many smaller advertisers. 360i, a digital advertising subsidiary of the Japanese group Dentsu, last week advised all clients to support the boycott, while the boutique New York agency Pearmill made the same call earlier in the month. Facebook generates nearly $70bn (£56bn) a year in advertising revenue.
Joy Howard, chief marketing officer of the password manager Dashlane, one of the participants in the boycott, said: “Facebook is not committed to change. They will only say what money makes them say. It’s time for us to put our money where their mouth is.”
Facebook said it respected the brands’ decisions and remained focused on removing hate speech. “We respect any brand’s decision, and remain focused on the important work of removing hate speech and providing critical voting information. Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organisations are about how, together, we can be a force for good,” said Carolyn Everson, vice-president of Facebook’s global business group.