(CNN Business) Outdoor sportswear product The North Face is becoming the best-known corporation to oppose Facebook advertising in the face of the social media site ‘s handling of false information and offensive language — a move which might unlock the gates for other brands to do that thing.
The product decision reacts to a crusade of stress from top civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, known as # StopHateForProfit, that also started calling advertising companies to halt their Facebook marketing in July.
“We are in,” wrote The North Face. “We ‘re off # StopHateForProfit on @Facebook.”
Outdoor gear retail chain REI said hours later that it would join the boycott.
“We have been placing citizens above money for 82 years,” the company said in a tweet. “We ‘re taking out of the July Facebook / Instagram ads.”
Recruiting firm Upwork immediately preceded REI ‘s launch, which confirmed it would support the initiative.
The deluge of choices illustrates how several firms could be about to abandon Facebook if only temporarily, to convey their unity with social equality proponents and their anger with the social media company.
The movements also obey requests from high-ranking elected officials, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to force advertisers to use their “tremendous leverage” over social media companies to change their habits. Facebook’s vast bulk of sales comes from ads.
The commitment of the North Face applies to ads on Facebook and Instagram owned by Facebook, and the product said in a declaration, although it will strive to develop native ads on youtube.
Craig Hodges, a spokesperson for owner The North Face, VF Corp, said many other companies in the company’s stable are “taking into account” joining in the steps of The North Face.
VF Corp also operates Dickies, Vans, Timberland and Smartwool among others. For the year ended March 31, VF Corp invested $756 million on ads.
“The North Face is suspending all operations and the U.S. paying advertisements for Facebook before stringent rules are placed in motion to discourage the spread of racial, abusive or offensive material and disinformation on the website,” the statement stated.
Carolyn Everson, VP Global Business Group Facebook, said in a statement to CNN Business: “We admire the judgment of every the company profoundly, and stay centred on the essential work of eliminating hate speech and delivering vital voting details.
Our discussions with advertisers and human rights groups are on whether we can be a force for good collectively.
For weeks, Facebook’s executive team has faced a continued pushback over its managing of President Donald Trump’s incendiary language. The corporation’s lack of action on Trump’s internet comments, one per comment during a previous demonstration that “robbing” would lead to “firing,” has been met by worker protests, criticism from senior employees or even issues from researchers funded by CEO Mark Zuckerberg ‘s philanthropic action plan.
As mass demonstrations about police violence and the mortality of George Floyd continued, rising calls for advertisers to pull their Facebook ad dollars have targeted companies of all sizes, such as top brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Starbucks. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that ad agency 360i had implored its members to join the protest.
“send a strong message to Facebook: your earnings will never again be worth encouraging hate, prejudice, racial prejudice, racism and xenophobia and brutality” interprets the blog for the # StopHateForProfit the program launched collectively by NAACP, ADL, Color of Change, Free Press, and napping ogres.
This month, Color of Change visited CEO Mark Zuckerberg to demonstrate resistance to Facebook’s treatment of Trump’s inflammatory words.
“I think at this point if you really think lives matter, you’ve got to draw a line in the sand, and you’ve got to be prepared to pull the seven figures of how much you’re investing,” Brandi Collins-Dexter, senior campaign manager at Color of Change said in a later interview. “Any business that financially supports and otherwise makes room for Facebook … you ‘re just as much a part of the issue and the facilities that enable people of colour to be marginalized.”
A few other smaller companies have said that they will either pull out ad spending or take other actions. Mental health company Talkspace, which earned more than $100 million in venture funding, announced it would exit from a six-figure marketing agreement contract with Facebook this month, but it did not discuss promoting anything. The firm has not responded to requests for comment on the matter.
The demonstrators calling for change are confronting a massively daunting challenge. Following Google, Facebook is the second-largest a leader in US digital media, and last year it produced $69.7 billion from nationwide advertisements.
