Pinterest is making a play for the “brand safety” crowd, highlighting the relatively lighter atmosphere on its site compared to social rivals like Facebook and Twitter. On Wednesday, Pinterest took aim at those competitors and announced it was joining the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a group that spun out of the World Federation of Advertisers to establish industry guidelines to monitor charged issues like hate speech on social media.
Pinterest made its announcement about joining GARM’s brand safety framework, which was recently updated, as part of its participation in this week’s ANA Masters conference. At the marketing confab, held virtually this year, Pinterest emphasized its reputation as a platform where people mostly share style tips, home design inspirations, recipes and travel recommendations, as opposed to other sites where subjects like politics have a corrosive effect.
"Negative online spaces are in fact draining your advertising dollars and hurting your brand," Jon Kaplan, Pinterest’s chief revenue officer, told marketing execs tuning in to Wednesday’s ANA livestream. "Showing up in safe positive spaces is no longer a moralistic argument. People are tired of the toxicity, tired of the bullying and negativity. It’s not healthy and it can have real effects on your brands and your business. Our view is that it pays to be positive.”
Pam Forbus, chief marketing officer at Pernod Ricard North America, joined Kaplan in the ANA Masters conversation on Wednesday. Pernod Ricard is one of the brands pushing for more solutions to tackle hate speech online, and introduced a new initiative on Tuesday. Pernod Ricard proposed that brands track their “hate footprint” like they would measure their environmental impact. Pernod Ricard’s plan, which is still a little unfinished, has the backing of GARM.