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- Semafor reported on the concerns expressed by executives at big advertisers about Elon Musk’s "racist rhetoric."
- McDonald's marketing chief was concerned that Musk was "perpetuating Racism" under the guise "Freedom of Speech."
- According to Semafor, a Colgate-Palmolive executive stated that she was aware of Musk's harmful and often racist rhetoric.
According to an email chain obtained from Semafor, representatives of major advertisers such as McDonald's and Colgate Palmolive expressed concern about Elon Musk's Twitter free speech agenda.
Interview with Twitter CEO will take place on April 18, at an advertising conference in Miami, organized by MMA Global. Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal's ad chief, will question him about why advertisers should return Twitter.
After Musk's controversial takeover in October, half of Twitter's top 100 marketers pulled out in December, the social media platform saw its revenue plummet. According to Pathmatics, The Wall Street Journal, more than two-thirds had not returned by February.
Musk stated that he purchased Twitter to create a digital town square for the social media platform. This would allow Musk to prioritize free speech. His methods have been criticized by celebrities, advertisers, and politicians. Others claim it has done the exact opposite.
Tariq Hassan (McDonald's chief marketing officer and customer experience officer) wrote in an email thread that Semafor saw: "For many communities his willingness to leverage success, personal financial resources, to further an agenda under freedom of speech [is] perpetuating racism and resulting in direct threats to their communities as well as a potential brand safety compromise we all should be concerned about."
"Further all of us who led our brand's investments across platform platforms were required to navigate an environment post-acquisition that objectively cannot be described as ranging between chaos and moments of irresponsibility," Semafor added.
According to the report, Diana Haussling (General Manager Consumer Experience at Colgate-Palmolive) stated that she was aware of the "harmful and often racist rhetoric of Elon Musk."
Haussling said, per Semafor, "While I support free speech and enterprise, it is impossible to ignore the effects of hate speech." It is especially hard for me to ignore as a black woman."
Kristi Argyilan (head of retail media at Albertsons), reportedly also voiced her concerns.
Semafor reported Chris Riedy (Twitter's global marketing and sales chief) didn't defend Musk but thanked advertisers for their feedback.
According to an email chain report, he stated that Twitter needs all of its users and their feedback is crucial to shaping the company's future. Elon will be in Miami Tuesday for most of the day and would like to hear from them.
Riedy said: "To this end, in an effort foster the most healthy conversations possible and to allow each of you to address him directly. How about we get the group together with Elon right after the session with Linda?"
Insider reached out to Twitter for comment. The company replied with an automated message, but didn't address the question.
Insider reached out to Hassan, Haussling and Argyilan for comment.
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By: stabahriti@insider.com (Sam Tabahriti)
Title: Elon Musk’s free-speech agenda at Twitter is ‘perpetuating racism,’ McDonald’s marketing chief reportedly says in leaked email
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-perpetuating-racism-says-mcdonalds-exec-report-2023-4
Published Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2023 15:15:00 +0000
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