337,000 to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: Stop Advertising with Breitbart
SumOfUs Urges Amazon.com to Follow 800+ Other Companies & Sever Ties with Right-Wing Website that Promotes White Nationalism, Misogyny and Division
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — A new petition from SumOfUs, an international corporate watchdog, is calling on Amazon.com’s CEO Jeff Bezos to immediately sever ties with Breitbart, over the news website’s “promotion of white supremacy, violence, misogyny and hate”. The petition has been signed by more than 337,000 people.
Amazon.com remains one of Breitbart’s most visible and prolific sponsors with ads regularly appearing on the website. Since November, 2016, more than 800 companies have severed ties with the right-wing website.
According to SumOfUs, Breitbart’s discriminatory content may directly violate Amazon’s principles around acceptable advertising. Amazon’s own policy states it will not tolerate “[c]ontent that is threatening, abusive, harassing, hateful, or that incites violence or intolerance, or that advocates or discriminates against a protected group, whether based on race, color, national origin, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age or other category.”
According to Buzzfeed, even Amazon.com employees are calling on the company to immediately stop sponsoring Breitbart’s hate. Amazon’s ad team has had to clarify that it is looking into a “longer term solution to use a 3rd party brand safety, which may block Amazon.com ads from showing up on certain pages on sites like Breitbart in the future.”
VIEW THE PETITION HERE: https://actions.sumofus.org/a/amazon-stop-investing-in-hate
“With a long-standing company policy that values diversity and inclusion, it’s shocking to see that Amazon.com is still supporting Breitbart’s brand of violence, bigotry and hate with paid advertisements,” explained Emma Pullman, lead campaign strategist at SumOfUs. “Amazon.com has chosen to speak up against Trump’s travel ban of seven predominately Muslim nations, but failed its customers and employees in their demand that the company live by its principles of acceptable advertising and pull its support from this dangerous white surpremacist website.
“Over the past week, this powerful grassroots campaign has reached a fever pitch. Over 800 companies, including major brands like BMW, T-Mobile, and Kellogg’s, have stopped advertising with Breitbart, and it’s clear this is just the beginning. We hope Amazon will be the next company on that list.”
SumOfUs pressure has already influenced Lufthansa Airlines, University of British Columbia, Laval University, McGill University, University of Montreal, Natural Factors, Swiss Chalet, and other companies to end their relationships with Breitbart. They are also calling on Shopify, an e-commerce giant that runs Breitbart’s online store, to sever ties with the website.
