Patagonia is the latest outdoor company to pull ads from Facebook, as well as its subsidiary Instagram, in solidarity with the growing “Stop Hate for Profit” initiative.
“Patagonia is proud to join the ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ campaign. We will pull all ads on Facebook and Instagram, effective immediately, through at least the end of July, pending meaningful action from the social media giant,” the company wrote in a statement, attributed to its head of marketing Cory Bayers. “For too long, Facebook has failed to take sufficient steps to stop the spread of hateful lies and dangerous propaganda on its platform.”
The statement continued, “From secure elections to a global pandemic to racial justice, the stakes are too high to sit back and let the company continue to be complicit in spreading disinformation and fomenting fear and hatred. As companies across the country work hard to ensure that Americans have access to free and fair elections this fall, we can’t stand by and contribute resources to companies that contribute to the problem. We stand with #StopHateforProfit in saying Facebook’s profits will never be worth promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism, and violence.”
The “Stop Hate for Profit” initiative was revealed on June 17 by group of civil rights organizations including The Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Color Of Change, Free Press and Common Sense. In an ad published in the Los Angeles Times, the group stated its goal is for large Facebook advertisers to “show they will not support a company that puts profit over safety” as a response to the social media platform’s “repeated failure to meaningfully address the vast proliferation of hate.”
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“We are asking all businesses to stand in solidarity with our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality and justice and not advertise on Facebook’s services in July,” the group wrote on its website.
Since the ad was placed, outdoor market standouts have announced they will join and pull ads from Facebook and Instagram in July. Thus far, both The North Face and REI revealed on June 19 that they will participate.
