The Facebook Dilemma
Today starts the official #facebookboycott, where brands, retailers, and major corporations are pledging to stop spending advertising dollars on Facebook for the month of July. And looking at the list, there are a lot of players participating at this point. If you haven’t been paying attention, Facebook has been under major heat recently to do more on their platform to combat hate speech. Something we’ve been talking about for years, but that has recently been amplified by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.
And now, it’s turning into a major PR crisis for the company as marketers across the globe consider pulling back advertising in alliance with the boycott. This isn’t likely to be a substantial financial hit to the company; much of Facebook's revenue comes from thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. In other words, it’s going to take a commitment from many more businesses to force a substantial revenue impact on the organization.
However, the point isn’t really to hurt the company financially, but rather force the company to pay attention to the requests that these organizations are making. They are asking Facebook to do more to limit the spread of misinformation on the platform, to do more to combat vocal white supremacy on the platform, and ensure that politicians are not allowed to use the platform to tell lies that influence and incite anger and fear. Although this is a fine line that may seem like suppression of unpopular speech, unchecked hate speech is a dangerous threat to society and democracy (not to mention the conspiracy theory groups that typically come along with it).
So what is a publisher to do this month? If you’re so inclined, make a statement by pausing your own advertising spend on Facebook in solidarity with the message that Facebook needs to do better. Consider alternatives like LinkedIn, Google Discover and Pinterest to reach your target audience or allocate your marketing dollars toward improving employee morale this month or investing in diversity initiatives.
Above all, use this opportunity to take back advertising dollars from the social media giant. Diagio, Verizon, LuluLemon, Unilever and many more have millions of dollars allocated for advertising this month that will not be spent on Facebook. Use this opportunity to tell the story about your brand and your audience, about the safety of advertising their brands on your websites and about the importance of local journalism. These brands are standing up and saying that the ethics and values of an organization influence their marketing decisions. Ask them to stand with your brand now and the values you hold true. Consider the list of companies that are participating in the boycott as your own personal lead list this month. The window is open to tell your story now.
