A culture of banning and cancelling
According to Wikipedia cancel culture (also known as call-out culture) describes a form of boycott in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – either online or social media, in the real world, or both. They are said to be "cancelled".
We have seen it with celebrities. But now we are seeing it in advertising. Last week, Publicis Groupe’s Tom Goodwin was cancelled for tweets about COVID-19 deaths, raising the ire of many of his industry colleagues on Twitter. The result - Tom is cancelled from his job at Publicis. Mind you, perhaps it was just a cover for some heavy cost-cutting? We will never know.
Meanwhile, President Trump is cancelling short video social platform Tik Tok and the social media and messaging platform WeChat. (Two platforms I personally use.) Why? Because of unsubstantiated claims they are collecting data on users for the Chinese Government. Something that ByteDance strongly denies. So, it is okay for Google, Facebook, Amazon and other proudly American companies often incorporated in the Republic of Ireland to collect data for the use of advertisers. But not for the Government. If you do that you are cancelled.
And across the pond, the UK Government is turning their attention to the lowest hanging fruit in their war on obesity – advertising. The Government intends to ban Fast Food (also known as Unhealthy Food, Quick Service Food or High Calorific Food) advertising. An interesting conundrum here to argue for advertising effectiveness and in the next breath argue that to ban advertising will have no effect. Likewise, there are bigger drivers of obesity in Western society, but these are not as visible and much more complicated and expensive to address. So, let’s cancel advertising.
So this week, what made me go WOW! in the trade media was all about banning and cancelling the things we do not like or agree with.
PUBLICIS SAYS IT HAS PARTED WAYS WITH TOM GOODWIN AFTER HIS COVID-19 COMMENTS ON TWITTER
Tom Goodwin, head of futures and insight for Publicis Groupe, is leaving the agency holding company after posting tweets criticizing “the total obsession with COVID deaths over all other deaths" as "entirely gruesome."
A Publicis spokeswoman confirmed Goodwin’s exit in a statement.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, Publicis Groupe has taken decisions and actions led by the principles of unity, empathy and humanity despite the collective hardships. These posts and exchanges by Tom Goodwin this week on social media do not meet the standard of conduct we expect of our company’s employees and were not aligned with our values. Publicis and Tom have parted ways,” she said.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDERS BANNING US BUSINESS WITH TIKTOK OWNER BYTEDANCE AND TENCENT’S WECHAT
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday banning transactions with ByteDance, the parent company of popular app TikTok . The White House also announced that he signed a similar order banning transactions with WeChat, the messaging app owned by Tencent that is ubiquitous in China but has a much smaller presence than TikTok in the United States, where it is used mainly by members of the Chinese diaspora.
Both orders will take effect in 45 days, but (and this is a key point) the executive orders are vague and confusing because they say Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross will not identify what transactions are covered until then. It’s also still uncertain how the executive orders will affect the apps’ operations in the U.S. or Tencent’s other holdings.
THE TIKTOK COPYCAT WARS ARE UNDERWAY, BUT WHICH APP IS WINNING?
When 2020 started out, a third of brands and agencies were planning to increase their spend on TikTok. But many have now been forced to take a wait-and-see approach, given the popular app’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain. Microsoft has until September 15 to work out a deal to acquire TikTok from its China-based parent ByteDance, else President Trump’s executive order, issued on Thursday, that prohibits transactions with ByteDance will effectively ban TikTok from operating in the States.
Meanwhile, alternative TikTok apps seem to be cropping up like a game of whack-a-mole—battling for active users and for advertising dollars. So, which of these copycats will benefit the most should TikTok actually be banned? While contenders like Dubsmash, Likee, and Triller are gaining traction, three apps, in particular, are in the advertising spotlight right now.
MICROSOFT CONFIRMS IT’S LOOKING AT PURCHASING TIKTOK
Microsoft has confirmed it’s looking at acquiring TikTok operations in the US as the app faces a ban from President Donald Trump. Last Friday Trump told reporters he was preparing to ban the video-sharing app within days after weeks of threatening to do so.
Trump, along with other politicians around the globe, has raised issues with the app for its Chinese ownership ByteDance, exposing it to influence from the Chinese government. To avoid a ban, ByteDance has entered talks with Microsoft to purchase the app, which would include operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
ADVERTISING TRADE BODIES UNITED IN DISTASTE FOR 'JUNK FOOD' TV AND ONLINE AD BAN
As part of prime minister Boris Johnson’s campaign against obesity, the government plans to ban high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) ads on TV before 9pm. Policymakers are also now in consultation over a blanket ban on advertising sweets and fast food online.
The moves have alarmed an ad industry which relies on such brands for a significant portion of its already under pressure income. Cancer Research UK analysis found that almost half of all food ads shown on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky One were for products high in fat, sugar and salt, rising to almost 60% between 6pm and 9pm when they are deemed most likely to be viewed by children. The ban could cost British broadcasters as much as ￡200m in revenue.
IF ADVERTISING WORKS, THERE'S NO WAY IT DOESN’T CONTRIBUTE TO OBESITY
The advertising industry was up in arms this week. The government’s announcement of a ban on advertising for ‘unhealthy’ food as part of a new strategy to tackle obesity sent shockwaves through the industry. The IPA, ISBA and AA were quick to jump on the announcement, calling it a ‘slap in the face’ for the industry. They decried the lack of evidence and pointed to the government’s own data that showed a ban would mean a child’s calorie consumption would only drop by the equivalent of half a Smartie if the ban were enforced.
In their view, the ban is a totally pointless exercise that will cost a lot of jobs, threaten commercial broadcasting models and not make any difference at all to the problem of obesity…
But is it really? Given what we know about how advertising works, can we really say in good faith that millions of pounds spent promoting unhealthy food hasn’t contributed to the rise of obesity in this country and across the world? I, for one, feel very uneasy with the haste with which the industry bodies have tried to dismiss the new policy.
The same industry bodies mentioned above have been working hard to prove the effectiveness of advertising in driving business results so that it’s not the first thing cut from the budget when things get heated in the boardroom. Many of the biggest advertisers in the country sell ‘unhealthy’ food and continue to invest year after year. They do this because it works. Burger King, KFC and Cadbury’s have all made the shortlist in the 2020 IPA Effectiveness Awards, the industry benchmark for effective advertising.
So, advertising works to sell unhealthy food, but it doesn’t contribute to obesity? Hmmm… Given what we know about how advertising works I find this very hard to believe.
WHY BANNING ADS TO TACKLE OBESITY WILL DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD
‘Boris wages war on junk food’, ‘GPs to prescribe cycling’ and ‘Diet plans for the nation’. This was the gist of the commentary when the government last week announced a raft of headline-grabbing measures aimed at combating the UK’s rising obesity rates. With Covid-19 having propelled obesity up the political agenda, a key part of the prime minister’s new strategy is a 9 pm watershed on high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) ads online and TV, and a proposed outright ban on all HFSS online ads by the end of 2022.
The response from the ad industry – IAB UK included – has been swift, pointing to a clear lack of evidence to support the effectiveness of further ad restrictions on reducing obesity, and highlighting the huge impact this action will have on both advertisers and the wider economy. Both are major points that need to be raised, yet they also need to be put into context. To get a full picture of why the industry has reacted like this, you need to understand what is already being done by advertisers to combat obesity, what the existing evidence shows and the extent of what is being proposed by No.10.
I don’t think anyone in this industry would disagree with me when I say that obesity is clearly a critical and urgent issue that needs to be addressed. It is also a highly emotive issue, particularly given the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic. Our health has never been more important or more scrutinised. In this context, it’s easy to get behind any set of policies that set out to tackle obesity – particularly something as clear cut as a ban – and equally easy to criticise arguments against the suggested measures. But that doesn’t mean that the Government’s proposed policies shouldn’t be open to scrutiny. It is precisely because this issue is so important and so complex that they should be.
If there has ever been a time for advertisers to get behind their industry and support their trade and industry bodies such as ISBA, ANA, AANA, WFA and the like, it is now. (TrinityP3 is a member of the AANA in Australia) While the US rests on the First Amendment right to the freedom of speech, most other countries do not have this right for commercial enterprises. Yes, there should be some controls, of course, but the first line of action from Government should not be to gag the advertisers and the organisations who are making and promoting legal products.
The fact is we now live in a world where if a group of people are loud enough in their opposition to you, then lookout, you will be cancelled.
As always, if any of this has piqued your curiosity or you simply want a more confidential discussion on any topic and the marketing implications and advertising opportunities let me know.
And stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay sane.
Cheers
Darren