Starbucks Presses Pause Button for Advertising across Social Media Platforms

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) is the latest entry to the list of companies who have come out in the open to pull all their advertising spend on social media platforms. Recently a lot of big brands have come together to force social media platforms to make stricter rules in combating hate speech.

Note that Starbucks hasn’t joined the #StopHateforProfit campaign started by the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP. The coffee retail giant said that it will have internal discussions with its media partners going further. In the official blog post, Starbucks said:

“We will pause advertising on all social media platforms while we continue discussions internally, with our media partners and with civil rights organizations in the effort to stop the spread of hate speech”.

However, Starbucks said that it will continue posting on social media without any sort of paid advertising. The coffee retail giant added:

“We believe in bringing communities together, both in-person and online, and we stand against hate speech. We believe more must be done to create welcoming and inclusive online communities, and we believe both business leaders and policymakers need to come together to affect real change”.

Major Companies Pause Their Advertisement on Facebook

Last Friday, a number of big companies joined the chorus and decided to pull their advertising plugs starting July next month. The companies said that social media platforms have failed to prevent the spread of hate speech and disinformation. Social media Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) has been at the center of this backlash.

Last Friday, Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO) said that is will stop Facebook advertising for the month of July. A day before, Unilver which has over 12 major brands said that they will stop their Facebook advertising for the rest of the year. Needless to say that these companies spend millions of dollars worth in advertisements every year.

The latest chorus caused FB stock to tank over 8% on Friday closing. Well, if the backlash continues longer, it can put a major dent in Facebook advertising revenue. Last year, Facebook reported $69.7 billion in global ad revenue.

Last Friday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did a live stream saying that Facebook remains committed “to making sure Facebook remains a place where people can use their voice to discuss important issues. But I also stand against hate or anything that incites violence or suppresses voting, and we’re committed to removing that content too, no matter where it comes from.”