Diageo joins social media advertising pause

Diageo said it will pause all paid advertising on major social media platforms from 1 July as it strives to promote inclusion and diversity also through marketing campaigns.

The company “will continue to discuss with media partners how they will deal with unacceptable content,” it said in a statement on Monday.

The spirit maker, however, did not mention the “Stop Hate For Profit” boycott campaign, which kicked off earlier this month after the death of George Floyd, to pressure Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform, to act on hate speech and misinformation.

More than 160 companies, including Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s, Honda Motor’s US subsidiary and Verizon Communications, signed on to stop buying ads on Facebook.

Facebook has drawn heat in recent weeks over its decisions not to act on inflammatory posts by US President Donald Trump.

The social networking site on Friday said it will label newsworthy posts that break rules as ad boycott has widened.

“There are no exceptions for politicians in any of the policies I’m announcing here today,” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

Zuckerberg also said Facebook would ban ads that claim people from groups based on race, religion, sexual orientation or immigration status are a threat to physical safety or health.

Hours after Facebook’s announcement, Coca-Cola said starting from July 1, it would pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days.

One of Facebook’s top spenders, consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble last week pledged to conduct a review of ad platforms and stop spending where it found hateful content. P&G declined to say if it had reached a decision on Facebook.

Starbucks has on Sunday announced a pause in advertising on all social media platforms, but added that it is not joining the “Stop Hate For Profit” campaign.

The campaign specifically asks businesses not to advertise on Facebook’s platforms in July.