By Barbara Ortutay
Walmart is the latest company to publicly join the growing flock of major advertisers to pull spending from X, Elon Musk's beleaguered social media company, amid concerns about hate speech — as well as reaching a sizeable audience on the platform.
"We aren't advertising on X as we've found some other platforms better reach our customers," Walmart said in a statement.
While Walmart went public with the pullout on Friday, Joe Benarroch, head of operations at X, said the company has not advertised on the platform since October. The company, he added, "has just been organically connecting with its community of more than one million people on X."
Walmart did not immediately respond to a message for further comment on Friday afternoon.
The announcement comes two days after Musk went on an expletive-ridden rant in an on-stage interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin about companies halting spending on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to antisemitic and other hateful material. Musk said advertisers pulling out are engaging in "blackmail" and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away.
"Don't advertise," Musk said.
Besides Walmart, the Walt Disney Co., IBM, NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast have also decided to stop spending on X. Many pulled out earlier this month after the liberal advocacy group Media Matters issued a report showing their ads were appearing alongside material praising Nazis. X has sued the group, saying it "manufactured" the report in order to "drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp."
X's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, is a former NBCUniversal executive who was hired by Musk to rebuild ties with advertisers who fled after he took over, concerned that his easing of content restrictions was allowing hateful and toxic speech to flourish and that would harm their brands. But X's relations with advertisers don't appear to be improving.
"Walmart has a wonderful community of more than a million people on X, and with a half a billion people on X, every year the platform experiences 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online," Benarroch said in a statement.
Barbara Ortutay is an AP technology writer
Nikki Baker Becomes CEO At Fallon
Fallon has appointed Nikki Baker as its new CEO. Baker, who joined the creative agency in 2018 and has served as co-chief creative officer with Leslie Shaffer since 2021, succeeds Rocky Novak, who has been in the role since 2019.
Baker’s promotion to CEO comes at a time of significant momentum for the agency, including six consecutive years of growth and award-winning work.
Baker’s recent career highlights include creatively leading the Walmart partnership with the Publicis Groupe team and spearheading innovative campaigns such as the award-winning “RomCommerce” 23-episodic series and the internet-breaking Mean Girls campaign, among hundreds of other campaigns together with the brand over the past few years. Together with Shaffer, Baker has also been instrumental in elevating Fallon’s creative output for longstanding clients like Arby’s, Mattress Firm, and Front Door/American Home Shield.
“I’ve always been an admirer of Fallon, even before I joined. The chance to lead the agency is an absolute honor. Fallon is a place like no other with amazing talent and a legacy of building big, innovative, creative ideas,” said Baker. “Rocky has represented the best of Fallon. He’s been a great leader, and I couldn’t be more excited to take the reins and lead the agency through to the next chapter. With creativity at our core, we’re going to be as ambitious as ever, push boundaries, and continue embracing emerging platforms to deliver work that truly resonates in culture.”
Prior to joining Fallon six years ago, Baker held positions as creative director and art director at agencies including DDB and GSD&M, working with major brands such as McDonald’s, Southwest Airlines, and Wrigley. Her work has been recognized by... Read More