Omnicom Media Group has advised its clients to pause advertising spend on Twitter, joining IPG Mediabrands as the latest agency group to lose trust in the social media app.
According to an internal memo reported by The Verge, clients were recommended to halt their spending on Twitter amid mass public mistrust in the app and its misinformation.
The news comes days after Valve, Apple and Nintendo were among a raft of brands impersonated and trolled by newly verified Twitter users.
Since Elon Musk’s acquisition, users of the app can now pay £6.85 ($8) a month for the privilege of having ‘blue tick’ next to their Twitter usernames.
People and pranksters alike are now able to create profiles that at first glance seem to be authentic and are capitalising on the change by tweeting out false pieces of information.
Yesterday, it was also reported that Elon Musk’s aerospace brand SpaceX had bought one of the bigger advertising packages available on Twitter to promote the business’ satellite internet service Starlink.
The memo sent out by Omnicom states that “risk to our clients’ brand safety has risen sharply to a level most would find unacceptable”. The group has also contacted Twitter to confirm that recent events and controversy will not affect “compliant processes, operations, products, brand safety and client investment on the platform in any way”.
Omnicom’s clients include McDonald’s, PepsiCo and Mercedez-Benz.
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It has been proven that the recent Twitter impersonations can cause real life damage to brands after a fake tweet was sent out claiming that insulin maker Eli Lilly and Company wrote “we are excited to announce insulin is free now”. As a result the company’s stock decreased from £309.84 ($368) per share to £291.32 ($346) per share, eradicating billions.
Similarly to Omnicom, at the beginning of this month Interpublic Group told clients like CVS Pharmacy and Nintendo to pause marketing on the app until Twitter could provide clarity on its safety and trust policies.
