I closed my Netflix account due to the Facebook advertising controversy

Netflix was paying to advertise on the Facebook group Fuck Islam among others and the response I received from them was inadequate. I asked them to discuss the matter with their advertising service provider.

"Although you may have seen our advertisement on the website of Facebook, we do not specifically sponsor that site or the content therein. We contract with an affiliate to promote our service through banner advertising, and regrettably, it can appear on websites that may cause controversy. We do apologize for any dissatisfaction this may have caused, and we can assure you that we are taking steps to evaluate the placement of the Netflix name. If you have any further questions about advertisements or controversial groups on Facebook, we strongly recommend contacting the Facebook administrators."

followed by

"What this is saying is that we don't have control over the sites they are placed on or the content of the site itself. You'll have to contact Facebook about allowing a hate speech group to even be on the website. Understand that Netflix does not support or sponser Facebook or any of the subsequent content of their website."

I told the Netflix representative I would be happy to resubscribe if they address this issue in a more adequate manner.

I am also a customer of another advertiser, TMobile, and am waiting to hear back from them as well.

Technorati Tags: netflix, facebook

Comments

[Jeff]

Noble but misguided. Netflix pays for advertising at a very broad level and there's no way for it to exclude its ads from appearing on certain Facebook group pages.

[contract]

tMobile has you on a 3 year contract - so even if you don't like them there's nothing you can do boy

Grow up, and stop complaining about free speech.

[EP]

> "Noble but misguided. Netflix pays for advertising at a very broad level and there's no way for it to exclude its ads from appearing on certain Facebook group pages." Sorry but that's a total BS response. How do you think they'd respond if their ads appeared on a netflixsucks page? EP

Take the advice of the other comments. Your entire complaint is entirely baseless and ridiculous.

[Jeff]

I think it's inappropriate for a company like NetFlix to pay for advertising on a page called "Fuck Islam" which has a Crescent-Moon logo with a line through it.

I don't mind if there are sites out there which choose to promote this content - they are free to do so. I just don't want to pay a company (NetFlix) which props these sites up through advertising.

NetFlix's response passed the buck. I would have been satisfied if they had offered to contact Microsoft. Facebook has since removed Microsoft's advertising from the home page of this group (not the inside pages). If NetFlix had simply offered to pursue this matter rather than say it was out of their control, I would have waited.

I'd been a customer of their for several years and expected a better response from them.

As for Facebook, their Terms of Use forbids speech that is "inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;" I've just been writing about the fact that they don't seem to be enforcing their own policies and the impact this has on their brand and business partners.

Personally, I'm supportive of free speech that is not harassing, hateful or racist. I do believe the Fuck Islam name and logo are all of the above.

BTW, I'm month to month with TMobile so I can cancel at any time.

[Andrew]

All I can say about your complaint + action is this: the companies you decide not to patronize any more are probably saying, "Good riddance"!

You are wasting their valuable employee time on a frivolous and non-consequential issues. I would bet they would be glad to free up that time (and I'd bet your business by itself isn't really worth that time, although they wouldn't admit it) to help customers with genuine problems, not some phony baloney problems generated by a censor-happy freak.

I dare you to censor me as you would censor all those who love free speech.

[grep]

This is a bit of a stretch, and I must side with Netflix on this one. If you don't like the hate group on Facebook... Facebook would be your primary contact.

Netflix pays for advertising at the highest of levels. They pay XX cents per YY eyeball viewings. Beyond that, they have little control over the ad's placements. It's the same way with common billboard advertising. A company pays for a billboard based on how many eyeballs they want to see it. Sometimes that billboard ends up over Wrigley Field... and sometimes that billboard ends up over a whorehouse in a shady part of town.

[James]

I think your knee-jerk reaction is a bit misguided, and agree with the other posters who state your disagreement will have better results if voiced to Facebook.

Regardless, everyone sees stuff on the net they don't like. Some of us just choose to ignore it.

The sentiment of the Facebook group in question is somewhat milder than that of the persons they are protesting against, to be sure. At least they're not calling your right to existence into question, as a large number of people in *cough* certain areas of the world are. These people being readily associable with the religion in question.

[LSaul]

I understand where you are coming from. People can say that it is a baseless argument only because we are accustomed to such a non-caring response from these corporations.

For people to accept that a company is advertising on the same page as a hate group is apathetic on their part. I would say pursue this to as far of an extent as possible. Netflix should not have passed the buck. It is a cop out to say that Netflix does not have control over where their ads are placed.

If they seem unconcerned, then they should not be getting your consumer dollar. I say fight the power, stick to your principles.

Maybe if enough people stand up for themselves, corporations would treat their customers (and maybe employees) with respect for a change.