Should Your Campaign Include Ads On Twitter/X?

Advertisers face a complex landscape on X/Twitter, where consumer sentiment is divided to say the least. A Gartner survey from November 2022 revealed that 53% of US adults believe brands should either reduce or cease advertising on the platform. That means advertisers running ads on Twitter/X run a substantial risk of consumer backlash.

Why? Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and the subsequent policy changes have triggered an irrefutable surge in harmful content, including hate speech, harassment reports, extremist content, and misinformation. A Pew Research survey indicates that one in four Twitter users is considering leaving the platform. It’s led to advertising sales plummeting by 50% since Musk’s takeover, primarily because businesses have brand safety concerns. Research shows this is true from small local businesses to large advertisers like Coca-Cola and Unilever that have moved their advertisements elsewhere.

For advertisers, the risks are palpable. Their content might appear alongside divisive and offensive material, posing a substantial threat to brand safety. In fact, this happened last week, causing IBM to immediately pull their advertising from the site. A handful more major brands, like Apple, left the platform immediately after Musk retweeted an antisemitic message.

This ongoing decline in advertising sales is a testament to the industry’s concerns, and we tell our clients to be cautious too. Having ads running on Twitter may put advertisers at risk of future backlash, and there are plenty of alternative places to advertise that don’t carry this risk.  Facebook, Meta, TikTok, and Google all offer viable alternatives with plenty of ad space.  Please contact us if you’d like to discuss safe alternatives to X/Twitter.

– Ross Yaeger – Senior Director Project Management