‘Ad bans may spark customer backlash’

Fairfax and the Nine Network have questioned the legitimacy of an online campaign targeting ­advertisers.

Denise Shrivell.

Newspaper editors and television executives from Fairfax and Nine Network have questioned the legitimacy of an online campaign targeting ­advertisers after it emerged that the activity is being driven by a small number of individuals hiding behind anonymous accounts.

Media industry leaders warned advertisers to guard against giving social media-­driven ad boycotts more attention than they deserved, and encouraged brands to consider their ­options carefully before joining an ad boycott or blacklisting a certain website.

Speaking at the Australian newspaper industry’s annual summit in Sydney yesterday, Nine chief executive Hugh Marks said social media was plagued by a lack of transparency and ­account­ability in response to recent pressure on advertisers by activists to pull ad spending from Sky News (owned by The Weekend Australian’s publisher, News Corp), Seven Network and radio 2GB. “We need to make sure there’s transparency and clarity around how those decisions are made to the extent that there is misinformation or social media is used to misguide or mislead or misinform marketers,” he said.

Mr Marks will preside over Fairfax’s newspapers and radio stations, including 2GB, if a takeover bid for Fairfax wins approval from regulators.

“That’s part of the problem with social media,” he said. “It is easy to use it as a platform because there is no responsibility in one sense often because it can be anonymous as to who is communicating what message, and why.”

Fairfax Media’s national editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Tory Maguire, pointed out that brands often left controversial websites in ­res­ponse to social-media furore, then returned later. “These things happen pretty quickly and this has happened to your network (Sky News),’’ she said.

“There might be advertisers who pull ads but they are back on air two weeks later. I think that, yes, (advertisers) need to be more careful but the long-term damage on these things is probably about as equal to the level of damage you’re in from a small number of people.”

The Australian yesterday revealed media industry consultant Denise Shrivell, who has called for boycotts of Seven, 2GB and Sky News, was in contact with US online activist group Sleeping ­Giants.

The Weekend Australian’s editor-in-chief, Paul Whittaker, sympathised with brands singled out by online activists but said ad bans risked alienating real consumers amid a proliferation of fake accounts and the social media “echo chamber” effect.

“Advertising agencies may be saying (to their clients) there’s a backlash that is sweeping the country,” he said. “In the case of this Sleeping Giants campaign, we find out that it may be just a handful of people and bots that are driving it.

“We had a case at The Australian where a 20-something person in the social media department of a particular company had tweeted that their advertising with The Australian was under review,’’ he said.

“And when we checked this we discovered that was news to the managing director. You just wonder whether companies have got a strong enough handle on what is going out in their name via ­social media.”

Mr Whittaker said advertisers should be cautious about pandering to social media activists ­because they might risk alienating their major customer base.

“Obviously they can feel like they are being besieged and they are trying to respond to it, but they should remember that consumers who buy their products are also our readers,’’ he said.