Ford to Honda: Hey, Wait Up!

On the same day that it encouraged fans to follow it on Instagram for sexy Bronco teasing, Ford Motor Company announced it will pull advertising from all social media platforms for a period of 30 days.

As you read here roughly nine minutes ago, Ford’s move comes after Honda did exactly the same. The automakers, among a number of other companies, aim to pressure big social media companies to root out and erase or ban hate speech — which can be a very nebulous term, depending on who’s using it.

That, of course, is a discussion for another time and place (and website). After going on Twitter to inform would-be Bronco owners that they’ll be able to place orders on July 13th, Ford implied that it had had enough of social media’s ability to disseminate hateful viewpoints, and would cease advertising immediately.

Per Reuters, Ford said it will use the month-long pause to take a second look at its social media presence, adding that hate speech and racism on such platforms “needs to be eradicated.”

Ours surely wasn’t the only head being scratched after this announcement, what with the company’s flood of social media marketing efforts today. So, if a social media user isn’t directly being advertised to, it’s sin-free to visit this page? Despite pressure to adopt the latest tactic in the ongoing protests over police aggression, racist violence, hate, statues of literally every background and meaning, and seemingly everything else, automakers aren’t likely to entirely stem the flow of images and information to prospective customers. Not when there’s a pandemic on and auto sales remain depressed.

It should be noted that the main focus of the current pressure effort is Facebook, where, as of 3 hours ago, you can get *extra* pumped about the Bronco. Of course, marketing isn’t necessarily advertising, even though they share body heat in the same bed.

[Image: Ford]