Unilever to stop advertising on Facebook in the US due to ‘polarised atmosphere’

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Anglo-Dutch food to detergents group Unilever has added its voice to the boycott of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the US for failing to tackle hate and racism on their platforms.

Unilever said in a statement that current advertising campaigns on the networks in the US will also be removed and that the boycott will last at least until the end of the year.

‘Given… the polarised atmosphere in the US, we have decided that starting now through at least the end of the year, we will not run brand advertising in social media newsfeed platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the US,’ the company said.

‘Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society. We will be monitoring ongoing and will revisit our current position if necessary.’

Subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s said earlier that it would not advertise on the platform in July.

Unilever has also announced that it plans to remove the words ‘fair/fairness’, ‘white/whitening’, and ‘light/lightening’ from its Fair and Lovely skincare range in order to ’embrace a more inclusive vision of beauty’.

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