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by paulgb 2171 days ago
Nobody was ever hiding that the boycott is for July; the call for the boycott says so in the first line. Some companies decided to go for more than a month but that's their choice.

> On June 17, Color Of Change along with the NAACP, ADL, Sleeping Giants, Free Press, and Common Sense Media called on Facebook’s advertisers to hit pause on ad spending for July 2020

> https://colorofchange.org/stop-hate-for-profit/

4 comments

That's actually very well played. You know that companies want to hit pause because of lower sales and less consumer confidence, so you give them an easy out that will look like a moral stance, and you wisely limit the duration so that nobody feels too committed and can return to business as usual if Covid-19-related slow downs come to an end by the end of July.
Or, they could just stop the advertising because of budget issues.

Supporting the boycott may be unpopular with some demographics. So maybe, just maybe, there's something to it.

> Or, they could just stop the advertising because of budget issues.

Oh, certainly. My point isn't that they're doing it because of principles. The companies do it because they want to save money. But offering them an out that allows them do press pause but not say "we have bad sales" and gets them lots of good will in important media circles, that's a good play imho.

Especially the very limited length looks like that to me. Had they said "to boycott Facebook ads", no large business in their right mind would've gone through with it. Even with "boycott FB for a year", I don't think so. But for a month, while business has slowed down significantly and you're happy to cut back in spending? That's an easy yes.

And for the organizers it's a win as well, as they can say that they got some large companies backing their cause. It's a smart play.

It wouldn't particularly surprise me if none of the vast majority of the public, HN commenters or the companies that signed up for it had actually read the boycott documentation so that might not be as important as it seems.
Is there a big list of all of the companies taking part?
The list is probably longer now, but here's one from late June: https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1276681468119572481
Kind of a sad excuse for a list. Can't see it moving the needle where it affects share price.
It’ll continue beyond July. This quote may have changed everything. If he’s trying to become the silicon trump he is certainly getting there. Unsurprisingly both are clearly sociopaths.
You think a quote he made to his own employees, painting the company in a strong light, will change everything?
So because he won't kowtow to the demands of what he says is a threat to a small percentage of the company's revenue, he is now Trump?

Is there a list of mobs you believe companies should kneel before, lest you deem them to be in-line with Trump?