Walmart has announced that it is reducing its advertising on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, stating that “we’ve found some other platforms better for reaching our customers.”
This move by Walmart has been in the works for some time, according to a source familiar with the decision. However, it coincides with a mass departure of advertisers from X after its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, showed support for an antisemitic post on the platform.
According to MarketingDive, the retailer allocates around $2.7 billion for advertising annually. In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, X’s head of operations, Joe Benarroch, mentioned that Walmart still maintains a significant presence on X. He added that the company stopped advertising on X in October, stating that this was not a recent development.
“Walmart has a large community of over a million people on X, and with half a billion people on X, the platform sees 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone every year, with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online,” Benarroch stated.
At the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, Musk took a defiant stance this week, openly criticizing advertisers who had distanced themselves from X. He told them to “go f— yourself” and complained about companies attempting to “blackmail me with advertising” by cutting off their spending with the platform. He also warned that the loss of major advertisers could “kill” X.
“And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company,” Musk added.
Several major advertisers, including companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, and Disney, have departed from X since Musk tweeted support for a post on the platform that propagated antisemitic stereotypes by claiming that Jews were fostering hatred against White people, citing it as “the actual truth.”
Typically, advertisers avoid associating their brands and marketing content with controversial material, fearing that their reputation with consumers could be negatively impacted by provocative content.
According to a report by The New York Times, the loss of key advertisers could cost X up to $75 million in revenue.
On Wednesday, Musk admitted that his support of the antisemitic post was “one of the most foolish” things he had ever posted on X.
“I am quite sorry,” he stated, adding “I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.”
