How Facebook Learned Rape is Bad for Business [View all]

[redqueen]

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In the end, it was all about the money.

WAM (Women Action Media), feminist Soraya Chemaly and Everyday Sexism in the UK took direct aim at Facebook's advertising revenue stream. They publicly showed major advertisers their own paid ads prominently displayed (Trigger Warning) on horrific rape-oriented Facebook pages. The most objectionable content can't ever be shown, but it includes graphic images of gore and horror, beaten children, naked children, women bound and gagged, or thrown down stairs. All supported by advertising dollars of the world's best-known brands.

It was too much for Nissan and the insurance giant Nationwide, which both pulled their ads immediately. Organizers then aimed a blistering barrage of social media messages to Dove, American Express, ZipCar and other brands, demanding that they too withdraw their ads. Twitter and Facebook were used to spread some 60,000 messages and 5,000 emails.

Followers of the campaign fanned out as if in a coordinated strategy. They disseminated the location of Facebook's upcoming shareholder meeting on June 11, and the names of all its major advertisers, including Disney and McDonalds.

Some tweeted at major financial writers for Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, the New York Times and others. Major business media and financial analysts were asked to comment on the potential damage to Facebook's share value if the advertiser exodus snow-balled. Others searched for and found a bottomless pit of violent rape-promoting content, all screen-capped on Facebook with major brand advertising. Then Amanda Todd's mother Carol and Rehtaeh Parson's father Glenford Canning joined the campaign.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sandy-garossino/wam-facebooks-pr-disaster_b_3357187.html?utm_hp_ref=tw