Ticket marketplace Megaseats.com has indicated it would join the growing boycott of Facebook by advertisers, pulling paid promotion through the social media platform as part of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign.
“We stand in solidarity with those calling for greater fairness and accountability from a platform that reaches such an enormous percentage of the people in our society,” MEGAseats CXO Peter Tyrrell told TicketNews. “Our clients come from all backgrounds, income levels, and points of view. We strive to support a more equitable world, and are glad to be lending our voice to even one small part of that effort.”
Supported by a coalition of civil rights groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Color of Change, and the NAACP, the Stop Hate for Profit Campaign was launched in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. The campaign has gathered significant steam in recent days, with a number of global advertisers – who make up the bulk of the social media giant’s $70 billion annual revenue – announcing they would pause paid ads on the system.
Unilever announced it would join the campaign on Friday as the holiday weekend began in the United States, joining brands including Verizon, Patagonia and Ben and Jerry’s which had already announced their support. Other major brands – including Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Lululemon, and Beam Suntory – added their names to the list over the weekend.
Before the weekend, the social media giant reacted to the rapidly snowballing campaign by saying it would now label posts that might violate its policies, but would allow them to remain on the platform. But critics were hardly deterred from demanding further action.
“We have been down this road before with Facebook,” the Stop Hate for Profit campaign said in a statement. “They have made apologies in the past. They have taken meager steps after each catastrophe where their platform played a part. But this has to end now.”
It is believed that MEGASeats is the first operator in the ticketing sector to join the campaign, based on a search of participating companies listed on the website. The company offers tickets to events based on an all-in pricing model, displaying the actual price any consumer will pay for tickets on its marketplace up front, rather than hidden behind service fees displayed at the end of the transaction.
MEGAseats declined to outline the financial impact of its shift in advertising spend due to the campaign. But, Tyrrell pointed out that the overwhelming majority of revenue that social media companies generate comes from small businesses such as theirs, rather than the higher profile companies making the headlines in a campaign such as this. A campaign like this, he said, has its greatest impact when it reaches widespread community adoption rather than a handful of high-profile clients.
