The North Face, an American clothing company, announced on Friday June 19, 2020 it would stop advertising its products on Facebook.
In an answer to the Stop Hate For Profit campaign, The North Face tweeted “We’re in. We’re out of @facebook”.
The campaign urges tech companies to “stop hate for profit”. It says that they are not doing enough to fight hate on their digital social platforms.
On their website, they list several examples of Facebook negligence, such as naming Breitbart News a “trusted news source”. They call for advertisers to boycott Zuckerberg’s platform.
In 2019, Facebook had a revenue of US$70.7 Billion, 99% of it is made through its advertising system.
The North Face is the first major company to join the #stophateforprofit campaign. It was later followed by the outdoor equipment retailer REI.
Stop Hate For Profit has 6 main partners:
- ADL: an organization fighting anti-semitism
- Color of Change: a campaign designer working against racism
- Common Sense: a movie-rating nonprofit working to protect kids
- Free Press: a media advocacy organization
- NAACP: a civil rights organization formed in 1909
- Sleeping Giants: a campaign to end advertising on non-progressive platforms
The campaign may cause a big harm to Facebook’s advertising business. It may also urge Mark Zuckerberg to adopt a more strict moderation policy.
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However, the social network is already adopting measures that are judged too aggressive by some users.
This includes the independent fact checkers mechanism; which has raised numerous complaints and controversies recently.
Facebook was also subject to boycott campaigns from conservative activists in the past.
From business point of view, the fact that 99% of its revenue comes from advertising is too risky. The company has to find other ways to diversify its income sources.
North Face, and all its pseudo woke hypocrites in commerce should remember – those that incite a boycott can be boycotted in turn.