HUL to cut online ads if toxic content not weeded out

NEW DELHI: Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India’s largest advertiser, will reduce its spends on online and social media platforms such as Google and Facebook if they don’t filter out content which is divisive or promotes gender stereotypes and hatred, in line with its Dutch parent Unilever’s new global policy.

Unilever, which spent $9.4 billion on marketing globally last year, of which one-third was on digital advertising, on Monday said it will not advertise its brands on social media alongside content that creates divisions, exploits children and hurts religious sentiments. “The global commitment will be applicable to HUL.

Unilever is one of the largest advertisers in India,” a spokesperson for HUL said in an email revert in response to ET’s query. HUL’s annual ad spends are estimated at over Rs 3,000 crore, of which 15-20% is spent on digital media.

Announcing a new commitment to cut investment in platforms which breed division at the Interactive Advertising Bureau annual leadership meet in California, Unilever chief marketing officer Keith Weed has called on the industry to “collectively build trust back into our systems and society”.

Weed said his company will not invest globally in online platforms that create division. “Consumers don’t care about third-party verification. They do care about fraudulent practice and fake news. They don’t care about good value for advertisers. But they do care when they see their brands being placed next to ads funding terror, or exploiting children,” Weed said.

Experts Welcome Initiative
He added that he had met the company’s digital partners, from Facebook and Google to Twitter, Snap, and Amazon. “I repeated one point to each and every one of them. It is critical that our brands remain not only in a safe environment, but a suitable one. Unilever, as a trusted advertiser, does not want to advertise on platforms which do not make a positive contribution to society,” he said.

A spokesperson for Facebook India said in an email revert: “We fully support Unilever’s commitments and are working closely with them.” Reacting to the development, a spokesperson for Google said: “There is nothing we take more seriously than the trust and safety of our users, customers and partners. We will continue to earn that trust every day.”

India’s digital ad market is expected to grow from about Rs 9,500 crore in 2017 to cross the Rs 25,500-crore mark by 2020, with e-commerce and FMCG being the top two biggest contributors of growth on social media, according to a report late last year by Denstu Aegis Network-owned digital agency Isobar. Industry experts welcomed Unilever’s initiative, though they said it might prove to be difficult to implement.

“To a large extent, content on social media is unregulated and borders on the reckless. Advertisers getting more discerning is required. However, it also throws up the question about who will judge what is sanitised content,” said media commentator and ad industry veteran Santosh Desai. Senior advertising industry official and group chairman at FCB Ulka Rohit Ohri said while objectives were positive, implementation could be difficult. “There are many grey zones about what is offensive content to some sections of society and what isn’t. Sanitising content on the internet is very tough,” he said.

Marketing and social media consultant Harish Bijoor said for brands, Unilever’s initiative marked the emergence of political correctness. “They can no longer be in a situation that they are not answerable to consumers. The movement is bound to gain ground,” he said. Calling 2018 the year of techlash, Weed said this year will be when the world turns on the tech giants and collectively rebuild trust back in our systems and our society.

“Fake news, racism, sexism, terrorists spreading messages of hate, toxic content directed at children – parts of the internet we have ended up with 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,” he added. Weed called on industry to work together to improve transparency and rebuild consumer trust in an era of fake news and toxic online content, and called on technology giants to take a stand against “things they see are not right”.