Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Walmart has decided to stop advertising on Elon Musk’s X, joining a number of other major companies that have pulled back from social media platforms in recent weeks.
“We are no longer advertising on X because we have found other platforms that better reach our customers,” a Walmart spokesperson said. Reutersfirst reported on the retail chain’s decision to suspend advertising campaigns on the website formerly known as Twitter.
Musk’s disrespectful response to fleeing advertisers
Walmart’s decision to suspend advertising comes in response to comments made by Musk, the owner of Company X. Told boycott advertisers ‘Fuck yourself’ while being interviewed at New York Times’ Deal Book Summit.
Company X’s latest advertiser problems began in mid-November after Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory posted by another user on the platform.
“You told the truth,” Musk responded to a user who shared a conspiracy known as the Great Replacement Theory, which claims that Jewish groups are trying to replace white people in the United States and European countries with minority immigrants. Ta. Musk then went on to discuss how groups like the ADL refuse to “criticize minority groups, which are the main threat.”
X’s problems worsened when a Media Matters report released the following day found that numerous brand ads appeared alongside pro-Nazi content.
Immediately after Musk’s comments and reports, advertisers began leaving the platform.
Walmart is only a small part of Company X’s retirement list.
IBM is beginning Pull ads.companies like apple, disneySony, Warner Bros., Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Paramount soon followed.
In reaction to the advertiser boycott, Musk and others sued The media has weighed in on the report, placing the blame for the loss of advertising revenue squarely on the organization’s findings.
At the Dealbook Summit earlier this week, Musk tried to explain some of his comments by claiming he was talking about Jewish organizations that fund ethnic minorities that don’t support Israel, putting X in a corner. Ta. Musk did not specify which group he was talking about. Musk also said nothing further about his initial supportive response to his Great Alternative Theory post.
Disney CEO Bob Iger also spoke at the Dealbook Summit event, and Musk himself told the exact reason why Disney stopped advertising, albeit before Musk told Iger to “fuck off.”
“We just felt that because he took a very public position and his association with Elon Musk and X, that wasn’t necessarily a positive thing for us,” Iger said. “And we decided to do away with advertising.”
Walmart appears to be the latest company to make a similar calculation.