On March 29, 2018, we witnessed another round of online cyberbullying. This time #bigpharma was caught in the whirlwind. What is cyberbullying? “Cyberbullying frequently used interchangeably with cyberstalking and cyberharassment and refer to adult behavior. Whereas cyberbullying is associated with underage harassment”
It all starts with this tweet, Laura Ingraham (Fox News) tweets
David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018
David Hogg (Parkland shooter survivor) responds with this tweet
Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
Immediately followed by this tweet
Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
First companies to respond within a few hours on Twitter to the boycott are
- Nutrish
- Tripadvisor
- Wayfair
We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program.
— Nutrish (@Nutrish) March 29, 2018
TripAdvisor says it will stop ads for right-wing TV host Laura Ingraham after she criticized Parkland shooting survivor https://t.co/TV2r0uiReX
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 29, 2018
. @Wayfair pulls ads from @IngrahamAngle telling @CNBC “We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.”
— Ryan Ruggiero (@RyanRuggiero) March 29, 2018
By the end of the day the following companies had responded to boycott by pulling their ads:
- Hulu
- Expedia
- Nestle
- Johnson and Johnson
- Joseph A Bank
- Stitch Fix
- Jenny Craig (Friday, March 30, 2018)
People keep track of the companies responding
Update: It’s now up to SIX advertisers dropping Laura Ingraham in the past 24 hours, after she mocked Parkland student @davidhogg111. Johnson & Johnson is the latest. https://t.co/VUVFWLX4Jn pic.twitter.com/i7eNodFojI
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 29, 2018
In the meantime from across the pond the following Tweets were going out:
— Grants4Apps Italy (@G4A_Italy) March 29, 2018
and in here in the States
We’re flexing for a cause! Show off your #StrongArmSelfie all month to spread #colorectalcancer awareness and education @FightCRC #OneMillionStrong pic.twitter.com/oLi4O7oLcK
— Bayer US (@BayerUS) March 29, 2018
@BayerUS responds March 31, 2018, at 5:30 pm
We have stopped advertising on Laura Ingraham and we have no plans to resume any time in the future.
— Bayer US (@BayerUS) March 31, 2018
Lessons learned for #bigpharma from this case study:
- Your stated values need to match your actions online
- People are watching and keeping track of your actions – so don’t think it will go away
- Be mindful of the conversations taking place online
- turn off your scheduled tweets
- alert employees on social media what is taking place
- #Bigpharma companies that were not originally on the list also responded
- Quick response (hours versus days) matters and is for every company, including #bigpharma
