Commentary
Will Trump Push Ad Boycotts Of 'Fake News'?
- by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 22, 2017
President Trump keeps using those words to describe the news media. But as yet, we don’t see any business changes from advertisers that support journalism -- electronic, print, or otherwise.
However, we do see some boycott growth -- a growing advertiser boycott around Breitbart News, the big conservative online publication.
Trump hasn’t used “fake news” to describe that media organization. But advertisers took matters into their own hands, according to reports.
An Australian-based ad agency of the Omnicom media buying group, according to a Buzzfeed story, says global brands have been demanding banner and other advertising be removed from Breitbart News. A recent look at the site showed little-to-no advertising -- let alone with global consumers brands.
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The agency, according to the report, points to a social media campaign called Sleeping Giants, which works to shame global brands for advertising it deems racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and/or anti-Semitic.
Months ago, the Breitbart boycott kicked off from the Kellogg Co. which pulled out its advertising. In turn, Breitbart countered with a #DumpKellogg hashtag campaign.
But what about “fake news”? For many, this is misleading stuff -- or perhaps worse. President Trump has called out a number of traditional news media organization using this descriptor.
Trump has yet to call for an ad boycott of these TV networks/print publications. Not too sure why -- especially when Trump called the media “the enemy of the American People.”
If his claim were true, it would sound like crimes have been committed -- treason or otherwise. It would be helpful to know what those crimes are -- which would let TV and other media advertisers make better decisions.
If our President wants to help build a bigger economy and stronger business in the U.S., this would be the next step -- helping steer advertisers that have yet to make decisions about what is real, fake, hurtful, racist and/or anti-Semitic news.
After all, it’s a complicated media world -- full of scams, bot-based media thief and questionable viewability. Companies should look for more direction from our now hands-on, tweet-inspired, real-time business advisor -- our Marketer-In-Chief.
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.
Come on, you're not seriously thinking that when the president says that media is the "enemy of the American People," that crimes have been committed? Except maybe against his ego.
The president will never call for a media boycott because he needs them. His next draft immigration order calls specifically for publicizing the details and the requirements for legal immigration status. In other words, he needs that media that he refers to as our enemy in order to fulfill his plan.
The president is already trying to steer advertisers by using terms like "fake news CNN" and "failing NY Times." It has nothing to do with the economy and stronger business, only his self-image and vanity.
Still, within the digital ecosystem, advertisers have plausible deniability to any boycott for any ads appearing on objectionable web sites because of ad networks and lowest-cost bidding and placement.
It all amounts to so much wheel-spinning. If Breitbart goes under, some other outlet with the same point of view will appear to take its place.
I read this morning that Project Veritas is readying new, secret, behind-the-scenes video of a major news organization being less-than-fair in its story preparation and reporting. The narrative is that newsroom insiders have been leaking damaging videos to James O'Keefe so that his group can make them public. True? Maybe, maybe not, but the first leaks are scheduled this week. I doubt it will be reported widely, but the power of the gatekeepers is waning.