On October 27, Elon Musk officially became owner and CEO of Twitter, unleashing chaos of epic proportions. The layoffs and massive resignations, the flight of users and the rumor that the social network would be closed are only part of the deep imbalance in the company.
After a month under the command of the billionaire, 50 of its top 100 advertisers have declared that they will stop paying for advertising on Twitter. As reported by the organization MediaMatters.orgthese firms have spent almost 2 billion dollars on the platform since 2020. Of these revenues, more than 750 million correspond to the advertising of 2022.
Chronicle of an expected crisis
Since the beginning of November, brands such as General Motors, Pfizer Y United Airlines announced that they would curb their ad spend on Twitter. However, the exodus intensified in the middle of the month, after a phishing crisis.
When Elon Musk decided to ‘sell’ account verification for $8, many users took the opportunity to create fake profiles posing as celebrities, companies, politicians, and other relevant accounts. This was a nightmare for brands, including Nintendo, nestle and the pharmacist lillywhich lost 15,000 million dollars for a tweet.
This aroused great concern among those who advertise on Twitter. Some completely canceled their campaigns and contracts with the social network, while others lowered the frequency or amount of investment.
Given the panorama, the 51-year-old magnate made a master move. According to reports, his company SpaceX bought advertising on Twitter for at least $250,000. Before, the CEO of Tesla boasted that “his companies don’t buy advertising from him” and he rarely advertised on that platform.
What advertisers have come up with since Elon Musk came to Twitter?
The analysis of Media Matters resulted in a list of 50 firms that announced the withdrawal of their advertising from the platform. The organization clarifies that, of those, only seven have been confirmed to have kept their word and broke relations with Twitter. Is about:
- Chevrolet
- Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
- Ford
- Jeep
- Kyndryl
- Merck & Co. (Merck Sharp & Dohme MSD)
- Novartis AG
The rest of the firms listed would be “quiet quitters“. That is to say, “companies that used to advertise on Twitter, but then stopped for a significant period,” that are discreetly leaving or that have not made a final decision, they detail. These are:
- Abbott Laboratories
- allstate corporation
- AMC Networks
- American Express Company
- AT&T
- Big Heart Petcare
- BlackRock, Inc.
- Blue Triton Brands, Inc.
- boston beer company
- CA Lottery (California State Lottery)
- CenturyLink (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
- Chanel
- Citigroup, Inc.
- CNN
- Dell
- Diageo
- DirecTV
- Discover Financial Services
- Fidelity
- First National Realty Partners
- Heineken NV
- Hewlett Packard (HP)
- Hilton Worldwide
- Inspire Brands, Inc.
- Kellogg Company
- Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc.
- LinkedIn Corporation
- MailChimp (The Rocket Science Group)
- Marriott International, Inc.
- Mars Pet Care
- Mars, Incorporated
- Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.)
- MoneyWise (Wise Publishing, Inc.)
- nestle
- Pernod Ricard
- PlayPass
- The Coca Cola Company
- The Kraft Heinz Company
- Pull Rack
- Verizon
- Wells Fargo
- Whole Foods Market IP
- Yum! brands
The organization points out that there seven other advertisers which, apparently, are reducing their advertising on the platform to a minimum. Although they do not specify what they are, they affirm that they have represented more than $255 million in revenue for Twitter since 2020. Almost 118 million (46%) were only during 2022.
According to reports, the food company Mondelez Internationalwhich recently bought the Mexican brand Ricolino, also vowed to stop advertising on Twitter. However, campaigns from two of its main brands still appear: Airing Y Ritz.
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.