By
Bena Ilyas
April 15th, 2024
Companies are continuing to sign onto a Facebook advertising boycott. Ford and Adidas are among the latest. So far, none of the advertisers are in the top spenders on Facebook this year. FB stock is in the green.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) seems to be infamous nowadays as a lot of the big companies decided to join the ”#StopHateForProfit” campaign. The campaign is actually promising to stop expending assets on Facebook ads in July in order to pressure the company to do more to stop the spread of hate speech and misinformation.
Be it as it may, these advertisers include some huge brands names and they aren’t automatically the largest spenders on Facebook in the U.S. For example, none of these brands were in the top 100 spenders on Facebook in the U.S. so far this year, as per the marketing analytics company Pathmatics.
Facebook Stock Is Rising while Companies Are Leaving
The growing campaign didn’t seem to trouble traders at the week’s beginning, as they sent Facebook shares up more than 2%. At the time of writing the stock in after trading was still up by 0.03%.
But let’s take a look on companies that announced they were suspending advertising on Monday.
First, it was Adidas AG (ETR: ADS) and its Reebok subsidiary who said it will suspend Facebook and Instagram advertising globally through the end of July.
Then we have a consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE: BBY) that said it will pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram starting July 1. The company said as of now, the pause will go through July.
Then we have cleaning supply giant Clorox Co (NYSE: CLX) who announced it is stopping advertising on Facebook and Instagram through December and will shift its ad spend to other media. It also said it will stop spending on Facebook Audience Network.
The next company that decided to go against is Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE: CAG), the maker of Slim Jim, Duncan Hines and Pam. The firm said it will stop U.S. advertising with Facebook and Instagram through 2020.
Then we have Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) that decided to pause all U.S. social media advertising for the next 30 days in order to evaluate its presence on the platforms, the company said. Also, HP said it will stop U.S. advertising on Facebook until the company sees “more robust safe guards in place,” the company said Monday.
Sportswear maker Puma SE (ETR: PU) said on Twitter it was joining the ”#StopHateForProfit” campaign and “stopping all advertisements on Facebook and Instagram throughout July.”
All of these firms join Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO), Honda Motor Co Ltd (TYO: 7267), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), Unilever NV(NYSE: UN), among others. In some cases, companies also halted ad spending on other social media platforms as well.
The ban came after several companies called on Facebook advertisers to halt their spending on the social media platform during the month of July.
The Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Color of Change, Free Press and Common Sense accused Facebook of allowing “racist, violent and verifiably false content to run rampant on its platform,” letting its platform be used in “widespread voter suppression efforts, using targeted disinformation aimed at Black voters” and allowed “incitement to violence against protestors fighting for racial justice in America,” amidst other words.