Walgreens Boots Alliance is the latest brand to cut advertising amid criticism over Facebook's handling of hate speech and misinformation.
The Deerfield, IL.-based drug store chain is the latest brand to join the social network's ad boycott amid criticism over the social network's handling of hate speech and misinformation.
The Deerfield-based drugstore chain's "brands are withdrawing paid advertising from Facebook and Instagram across the U.K. and U.S. for the month of July," a company representative said in an emailed statement. "During this pause, we will examine our marketing strategy, to ensure that our advertising spend goes toward platforms with a commitment to address misinformation and hate speech. It's important to us to truly live our (Walgreens Boots Alliance) values—doing business with integrity and caring about our customers."
Walgreens is among hundreds of companies halting paid ads. Others that have joined the Facebook boycott include Molson Coors, PepsiCo and Mars, AdAge reports. But a CNN Business analysis of Facebook's top advertisers found that most of the network's 100 biggest ad spenders—including Walmart and Home Depot—had not followed suit.
"Facebook has come in for much criticism in recent weeks following its decision to allow controversial posts by President Trump to stay up, and misgivings on the part of many people, including companies that advertise on our platform, about our approach to tackling hate speech," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications, said in an open letter published in Ad Age yesterday. "Billions of people use Facebook and Instagram because they have good experiences. They don't want to see hateful content, our advertisers don't want to see it, and we don't want to see it. There is no incentive for us to do anything but remove it."
This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crain's Chicago Business.
