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Coca Cola suspends ads on social media as platforms come under fire over handling of racist content

Unilver, home to brands like Lipton tea, also said it would suspend ads on social media until the end of 2020.

COCA COLA HAS announced it is to suspend advertising on social media for at least 30 days, as platforms face a reckoning over how they deal with racist content.

“There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media,” James Quincey, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, said in a brief statement.

He said social media companies – which other major brands have boycotted to force changes in how they deal with hateful material – need to provide “greater accountability and transparency”.

Coca Cola will use the pause to “reassess our advertising policies to determine whether revisions are needed,” Quincey said.

The beverage giant told CNBC that the “break” does not mean it is joining the movement launched last week by African American and civil society groups. 

The coalition, which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), has been urging companies to stop advertising on Facebook, using the #StopHateForProfit hashtag. 

It aims to achieve better regulation of groups inciting hatred, racism or violence on the platform. 

Unilever, home to brands including Lipton tea and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, said it would stop advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the US until the end of 2020 due to the “polarized election period”.

Meanwhile, Facebook on Friday said it would ban a “wider category of hateful content” in ads as the embattled social media giant moved to respond to growing protests over its handling of inflammatory posts.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook also would add tags to posts that are “newsworthy” but violate platform rules — following the lead of Twitter, which has used such labels on tweets from US President Donald Trump.

The new policy on hateful content in ads will “prohibit claims that people from a specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity or immigration status are a threat to the physical safety, health or survival of others,” Zuckerberg said. 

© – AFP 2020 

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    Mute Bella Gunning
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    Oct 29th 2014, 5:19 PM

    Great news for people who sell ‘stuff’

    19
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    Mute R Neuville
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    Oct 29th 2014, 7:22 PM

    Obscene Lobby Driven car tax on pre-2008 cars forcing people to buy new cars. Those who cannot afford new cars subsidising the annual road tax of the wealthy who can. A most regressive tax. Was not passed in the UK. Ireland a lobby ridden disgusting place to live – no equity. Bring your Brains to the Polling Booths.

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    Mute Tequila Gold
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    Oct 29th 2014, 7:19 PM

    The one in the picture would be better off hugging a bicycle

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    Mute Bevin Reilly
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    Oct 29th 2014, 6:42 PM

    Love that stock photo.

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    Mute Business Cat
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    Oct 29th 2014, 4:27 PM

    Name the car in the picture….

    I’m thinking RR Evoque?

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    Mute wondermiss
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    Oct 29th 2014, 4:50 PM

    KIA sorento I think

    20
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    Mute Anthony Halpin
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    Oct 29th 2014, 9:01 PM

    A bit of that Mechanophilia stuff going on there by the look of it

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    Mute CW
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    Oct 29th 2014, 8:45 PM

    Well the bullshit statistics from the high street say that most under 25′s and up to 30 are buying in the high street due to increasing numbers employed in the financial and insurance industry, the high street doesn’t show the online buying by the work in poor at middle class’s that wouldn’t pay those prices. It’s a two tier system, that the government are now dependent on the young living at home for their figures. The ESRI is not reflective to the population.

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    Mute Anthony Halpin
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    Oct 29th 2014, 8:59 PM

    All we need now is a scrappage scheme for 3 year old cars, supported by the SIMI and Green party!

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    Mute Christabel Benoit
    Favourite Christabel Benoit
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    Nov 2nd 2014, 5:19 PM

    And I just bought a beautiful vintage sofa, which only comes to prove I spend a lot on what we’ve been talking in this article. If I were a keen driver, I’d probably spend a lot on my car as well. Take a look at the pros and cons of vintage furniture: http://www.hometalk.com/5463165/the-pros-and-cons-of-vintage-furniture and you will understand what I am talking about.

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