Unilever CMO threatens Facebook, Google with digital advertising boycott

Keith weed raises concerns about the quality of content online, the issue of retaining consumer trust, and three ways the FMCG giant is hoping to tackle it

Unilever CMO, Keith Weed, has threatened to pull the FMCG giant’s digital advertising from Facebook and Google if the pair don’t remove controversial and extreme content from their online platforms.

During the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting conference this week, the world’s most influential marketer criticised the lack of control across the content being delivered to consumers via the two online platforms, and threatened to boycott sites that “breed division” as a result.

“As one of the largest advertisers in the world, we cannot have an environment where our consumers don’t trust what they see online,” Weed told attendees. “We cannot continue to prop up a digital supply chain – one that delivers over a quarter of our advertising to our consumers – which at times is little better than a swamp in terms of its transparency.”  

As a consequence, Weed said the company will prioritise investing “only in responsible platforms that are committed to creating a positive impact in society”.

“As a brand-led business, Unilever needs its consumers to have trust in our brands,” Weed said ahead of his speech. “We can’t do anything to damage that trust – including the choice of channels and platforms we use. So, 2018 is the year when social media must win trust back.”

Unilever is one of the world’s largest marketing spenders, outlaying about US$8 billion annually to advertise its brands, a list that includes Dove, Domestos, Omo, Rexona, Lipton, Vaseline, Marmite and Jif.

“The wider impact of digital on our society and the swamp that is the digital supply chain has become a consumer issue,” Weed stated. “Thus far, it has been mainly an ‘internal’ industry concern, discussed by the trade press and at industry events. But the almost daily increasingly volume of mainstream coverage shows that the jack is well and truly out of the box.  

“Yet as an industry we are sleepwalking on progress here. We are spending far too much time talking about what are, essentially, hygiene factors.”  

Weed said fake news, racism, sexism, terrorists spreading messages of hate, toxic content directed at children are all parts of the Internet “we have ended up with that is a million miles from where we thought it would take us”.  

“It is in the digital media industry's interest to listen and act on this. Before viewers stop viewing, advertisers stop advertising and publishers stop publishing,” he said.    

“This is a deep and systematic issue, an issue of trust that fundamentally threatens to undermine the relationship between consumers and brands. Brands have to play their role in resolving it. No longer can we stand to one side or remain at arm’s length just because issues in the supply chain do not affect us directly.”

For Weed, three elements must be tackled: Responsible platforms, responsible content, and responsible infrastructure.  

Against these, he outlined three key commitments on behalf of Unilever, the first being not to invest in platforms that do not protect children or which create division in society.

Secondly, Unilever is committed to tackling gender stereotypes in advertising through #Unstereotype and championing this across the industry through #SeeHer and the #Unstereotype Alliance, he said. Thirdly, Unilever will only partner with organisations committed to creating better digital infrastructure, such as aligning around one measurement system and improving the consumer experience.  

Concerns over brand safety on online platforms came to a head last year, when several brands and agencies globally, such as WPP, Mars, eBay, Adidas, LÓreal and AT&T, boycotted Google’s YouTube platform first in March, and then in October and November, after finding their ads appearing on extremist video content.

In response, YouTube deleted hundreds of accounts and removed more than 150,000 videos from the platform in November.

Weed himself, along with his P&G rival, Marc Pritchard, have both been highly vocal about the lack of transparency in the digital media supply chain. Last January, Pritchard called on the industry to crack down on “fraudulent” and “murky” practices and said P&G was implementing a four-point plan to tackle issues within its own digital marketing strategy. These included a full review of all agency contracts for greater transparency, adopting 100 per cent viewability standard, and no longer accepting media owners who measured their own inventory.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+:google.com/+CmoAu

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in