Companies have little to lose from joining a Facebook boycott during a slow month for ads amid a pandemic; they'll be back, and Facebook will emerge stronger

Every day, it seems, another major corporation joins the advertiser boycott against Facebook. First came The North Face, REI and Patagonia.

Politico 2020-07-03 Jack Shafer

Context & Ripple Effects

When The North Face, REI, and Upwork committed to the boycott in late June, the question was whether a critical mass of big spenders would follow. This Politico analysis argued most wouldn't need to pay much to join: with pandemic-depressed ad demand making July a slow month anyway, pausing carried little cost.

A month later the thesis looked right — North Face and Heineken said they would resume Facebook ads from August while Levi Strauss and Smucker held out — and by year's end an analysis found only about ten of the sixty biggest pausing brands were still out, some having shifted spend to other Facebook tools.

First-order effects

For early joiners like The North Face, REI, and Patagonia, the pause costs little precisely because July is a slow ads month during the pandemic — they get the reputational statement nearly free.
Of Facebook's top 25 advertisers from 2019 — Uber and Netflix among them — only three, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Pfizer, have paused spending, so the direct revenue hit is concentrated in a small set of names.

Second-order effects

Facebook's exposure becomes a moderation-policy problem more than a revenue problem: holdout brands like Levi Strauss and Smucker sustain the pressure while the majority return on their own schedules.
Because participation is cheap and reversible, every subsequent corporate joiner dilutes the signal value of the boycott, pushing activists toward demanding policy concessions rather than ad withdrawals.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds — most pausers back within weeks, only ~10 of 60 still out by December, some quietly spending through other Facebook tools — brand boycotts against dominant platforms settle into reputation management rather than budget reallocation, leaving Facebook's ad dominance intact.

The trend: Advertiser boycotts of dominant social platforms are becoming low-cost brand signaling that snaps back quickly, leaving platform ad power largely undented.

Discussion

@stopfundinghate @stopfundinghate on x
Snopes backs #StopHateForProfit: “We participated as a Facebook fact-checking ‘partner’ for two years before we abandoned the role, sensing that the program effectively served as a public relations effort” 🔥🔥🔥https:// www.snopes.com/...
@matthewkeyslive Matthew Keys on x
The advertising boycott of Facebook comes at a time when sales are down and companies are looking to cut discretionary ad spending, anyway. https://www.politico.com/...
@ericjackson Eric Jackson on x
Facebook outrage? Stock back to all-time highs.... For those keeping score, it took 4 days to make up the outrage losses
@iainlevine Iain Levine on x
Sparkling piece from @jackshafer who punctures a lot of self-righteousness “Asking a corporation to boycott Facebook in July 2020 is a little like asking a casual drinker to observe Lent by giving up alcohol in a dry county.” https://www.politico.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
New @jackshafer: “How the Facebook Boycott Could Just Make Facebook Stronger: Corporate ad boycotts have as long a tradition as corporate virtue-signaling. Don't count on either to dent the social media titan.” https://www.politico.com/...
@profcarroll @profcarroll on x
The internet's original debunker announces it stands with the #StopHateForProfit campaign. https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Mark Zuckerberg recently told Facebook employees he expects boycotting advertisers to “be back on the platform soon enough,” and that he won't change policies “because of a threat to a small percent of our revenue, or to any percent of our revenue.” https://thein.fo/...
@jgreenblattadl Jonathan Greenblatt on x
Mark Zuckerberg's private comments lay bare the truth that Facebook would rather protect racists, antisemites and profits over people. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@clarajeffery Clara Jeffery on x
Change won't come from Zuck. It will come@from employees, advertisers, users and ultimately regulators. He is unreformable. https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Purely from an antitrust standpoint, it seems notable that Facebook is this confident that its customers have zero leverage and no alternative but to keep buying its ads. https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Here's the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, which is co-organizing the Facebook ad boycott, responding to my story https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@markdistef Mark Di Stefano on x
Mark Zuckerberg's first comments on the widening advertising boycott of Facebook: “My guess is that all these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough” — exclusive by @alexeheath https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@libshipwreck Librarianshipwreck on x
For a time, many argued that Facebook deserved to be given the benefit of the doubt, that Zuckerberg was figuring things out. Such arguments were always foolish, but their optimism was understandable. But when FB shows you what it really is, believe it: https://www.theinformation…
@amir Amir Efrati on x
.@alexeheath got a transcript of Zuckerberg's internal comments about the advertiser boycott. He said a lot, including the below. Full transcript here: https://www.theinformation.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@citnaj Jason Antic on x
“he won't change policies”. Are you getting it Facebook employees? Zuck does not give a fuck. So as long as you lend your talents to him, you're helping build the platform that radicalizes the world for profit. If you have a conscience- leave. https://twitter.com/...
@lauramandaro Laura Mandaro on x
Scoop: After the publicly broadcast part of Facebook's town hall meeting Friday, Mark Zuckerberg talked to staff privately about the growing advertiser boycott. The remarks were far more defiant than the company's recent public messaging https://thein.fo/... via @alexeheath https…
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
“If someone goes out there & threatens you to do something, that actually kind of puts you in a box where in some ways it's even harder to do what they want because now it looks like you're capitulating, & that sets up bad long-term incentives for others to do that” https://twitt…
@johnbattelle John Battelle on x
Entirely in character. Actually nothing about this is surprising. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
even if journalists go to prison.... even if it causes genocide in Myanmar.... even if the U.S. President causes people to get killed... he won't change policies... he connects people which is de facto good. and makes serious coin for doing it. https://twitter.com/... https://twi…
@act4prog @act4prog on x
.@Facebook has refused to #StopHateForProfit. Now we're hitting them where it hurts: ad revenue. 99% of Facebook's profits come from its advertisers. Call on more advertisers to join the boycott now! https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@migueldeicaza Miguel de Icaza on x
The Hatebook CEO has principles: https://twitter.com/...
@natematias J. Nathan Matias on x
Social science on boycotts has found that direct financial impacts don't tend to drive boycott effectiveness. What does? Media coverage, which impacts CEO reputation & stock prices, according to research by @braydenk https://twitter.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
Imagine protecting your right to amplify hate speech at any cost. Truly galling. #StopHateForProfit https://twitter.com/...
@tupp_ed Simon McGarr on x
Facebook CEO taking departures by advertisers well. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
Zuck tells employees “advertisers will be back soon enough.” He correctly points out that the risk of #StopHateForProfit is reputational. Does he realize the brand damage could be catastrophic? Learn more StopHateForProfit(dot)org https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@johnthornhillft John Thornhill on x
Fighting talk from Mark Zuckerberg in comments to Facebook staff - as reported by @theinformation - We're not gonna change our policies - Advertisers will be back https://www.theinformation.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

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