How do you solve a problem like... online abuse towards influencers during Pride?

June 15, 2021

It’s no secret that advertisers are eager to show their friendliness towards the LGBT+ community during Pride month. With the authenticity of any marketing activation under scrutiny from audiences, many brand marketers have turned to social media influencers as a way of reaching consumers.

But boosting a personality with the star-making power of a brand campaign can mean exposing influencer partners to a wider – and potentially hostile – audience, leaving them more vulnerable to hate speech and abuse. How can brands protect the influencers they work with – and how far does that responsibility extend?

How do you solve a problem like... online abuse towards influencers during Pride?

Carina White, senior partnerships and talent manager, RAPP

Brands should have an open dialogue with talent before their content goes live to reassure them that online abuse will not be tolerated and they will be fully supported should it arise. Where possible, brands should reply to negative comments on their social pages.

A great example of this is from a podcast I work on that recently launched a partnership with Dove. They received numerous abusive comments about why hair discrimination towards Black people didn’t exist. The social team at Dove replied to every negative comment with stats and figures around hair discrimination and sought to educate and inform. Brands should also inform their talent of the features social media platforms have in place to prevent them seeing offensive comments and messages.

See what other ad exces had to say with The Drum.