The groups urged big advertisers to pull spending from Facebook for July to protest the lack of progress the social-media giant has made enforcing its policies around hate speech and misinformation.
360i, whose clients include spice maker McCormick & Co., Discover Financial Services and consumer-goods giant Unilever PLC, “believes any social platform that earns profits by amplifying the voices of their community must have a zero tolerance policy for hate,” according to the email, which was seen by The Wall Street Journal.
“It is no longer enough to be on a path to addressing this or merely celebrating the considerable gains made over the last year or so,” said the email, which didn’t mention Facebook by name but linked to a recent Journal story about the civil-rights groups’ call to boycott Facebook. “Therefore, we support #StopHateforProfit and its July call to action.”
Carolyn Everson, vice president of Global Business Group at Facebook, said in a statement that the company was in conversations with marketers and civil-rights organizations about how to be “a force for good to fight racial injustice around the world.”
When Unilever's digital agency says "stop giving money to Facebook?" That's sumpin'. Unilever and Johnson & Johnson are the 800lb gorillas of advertising money.