In an email correspondence obtained by Semafor, McDonald’s and Colgate-Palmolive representatives voiced worry that Elon Musk’s Twitter free speech policy is “perpetuating bigotry.”
MMA Global’s Miami advertising conference will interview Twitter’s CEO on April 18. NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino will question him why advertisers should return to Twitter.
After Musk’s contentious takeover in late October, half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers left in December, lowering income. Pathmatics indicated that two-thirds of these sponsors had not returned by late February.
Musk bought Twitter to establish a “digital town square” for free speech. Politicians, celebrities, and marketers have called his methods unhelpful.
In an email thread seen by Semafor, McDonald’s chief marketing and customer experience officer Tariq Hassan wrote: “For many communities, his willingness to leverage success and personal financial resources to further an agenda under the guise of freedom of speech is perpetuating racism resulting [in] direct threats to their communities and a potential for brand safety compromise we should all be concerned about.”
“Moreover, all of us who drive our brand’s investments across platforms were compelled to negotiate a scenario post-acquisition that objectively can only be classified as ranging from chaos to times of recklessness,” he continued, according Semafor.
Diana Haussling, Colgate-customer Palmolive’s experience general manager, was “mindful of Elon Musk’s toxic and frequently racist remarks,” according to the study.
Haussling told Semafor: “I strongly support free speech and enterprise, but hate speech has real consequences. Black women like myself can’t ignore it.”
Kristi Argyilan, Albertsons’ retail media leader, expressed concerns.
Semafor stated that Twitter’s worldwide sales and marketing head, Chris Riedy, thanked advertisers for their criticism without defending Musk.
“Twitter needs everyone of you and your opinion is crucial to molding what the business can become – Elon will be in Miami for the most of the day Tuesday and wants to hear from you,” he stated, according to the email chain.
“To that end,” Riedy said, “how about we get this group together with Elon right after the session with Linda?”
Insider asked Twitter. The company’s automatic response didn’t answer the question.
Insider did not hear back from Hassan, Haussling, Argyilan, McDonald’s, Colgate-Palmolive, or Albertsons.