Yet, even with the hundreds of companies that signed up and big names like Adidas, Coca-Cola, Diageo, and Unilever on board, the likelihood of this bringing about significant changes at Facebook is still slim.
Plus, despite having lots of household names involved in the campaign, these large companies account for less than 10% of all Facebook advertising revenues.
It organized a call with a number of advertisers through the Interactive Advertising Bureau trade body and senior executives said Facebook recognized it was suffering from a trust deficit, while expressing eagerness to listen to the concerns of clients.
But, even as the ad boycott continued to grow, Facebook showed no signs of backing down and acquiescing to the campaigns demands.
To put real pressure on Facebook to change its content moderation policies requires an unparalleled level of unity across the advertising world. While the content of ads tends to be created by advertising agencies in conjunction with the companies that are being advertised, the location of where these ads appears is mostly decided by the ad agency.
While most advertising agencies have expressed public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, how they are advising their clients in relation to Facebook is more mixed. A recent survey by the trade magazine PR Week found that less than half of respondents were advising their clients to walk away from Facebook.
Ultimately, it is only through collective action involving both large and small advertisers in substantial numbers along with the entire advertiser community can this tide really turn.
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