What’s Old is News Again!!!
Jackie Rotman, Founder and CEO at the Center for Intimacy Justice (CIJ) is a rock star making noise and taking names. The Center’s recent report (in partnership with Origin), Facebook’s Censorship of Health Ads for Women and People of Diverse Genders was the result of an in-depth study of 60 businesses “that service women’s health and health for people of diverse genders, who wanted to take their message and product to the masses.” If you are new to this conversation, the statistics will shock you and might offend you. If you have been around the block a few times, this will be old, but still frustrating news.
· Of the 60 businesses considered, every single one (100%) had experience Facebook/Instagram rejecting an ad for their business;
· 50% of survey respondents reported Facebook suspending their entire ad accounts.
How can this be the case or more accurately — still be the case? On Facebook, most every product for erectile dysfunction, male sexuality and healthy sperm have been given a warm welcome. One might ask is it the content that companies are trying to share — menopause, pelvic pain, pregnancy or postpartum care, menstrual health, fertility, sexual wellness, and education? Or it that 59 of 60 businesses were founded and led by women, and 1 by a non-binary individual? Or it is systemic discomfort with sexuality for women and people of diverse genders? YES, EMPHATICALLY YES, ABSOLUTELY YES, FRUSTRATINGLY YES — it is all of those factors!!!
How else can you explain the disparate treatment given to products that affect people with traditionally female biology? We have all seen and heard the ads for products providing 4 hour erections and other sexual wellness products for men. You know these ads, you have seen these ads, and you might even have clicked on these ads — because Facebook/Instagram or more accurately, Meta, has always let those companies advertise. My comments and the recent study are in no way a condemnation of the need for information and products for, as well as the importance of, products for male sexuality. It is however, an urgent request for similar standards to be applied to the broad range of products covered under the same umbrella for women and people of diverse genders.
Facebook policy stated the platform does not allow “advertisements that contain or promote adult content” including “sexual terms or images.” In fact, Facebook’s response to rejecting ads on female sexuality read: “All ads are equally subject to our advertising policies, which are stricter than our community standards… Facebook has long had a policy that limits ads with adult content and adult products in part because we take into account the wide array of people from varying cultures and countries who see them. We continue to review these specific ads,” a Facebook rep stated. I beg to differ.
Today, Meta’s policy, forbids imagery of sexual activity, including explicit sexuality and stimulation or implied sexuality and stimulation, which kind of makes It hard to explain the extraordinarily inconsistent approvals for products focused on men versus those in Rotman’s report.
Sadly, Meta, despite its new name, is not new to this kind of business discrimination. Every company/entrepreneur included in the study had ads rejected. And this wasn’t just yesterday, last month or last year. This has been going on for way over a decade.
In 2018, Dame, a sexual wellness company founded by Alex Lieberman, began what would be a grueling journey to have their ads for sexual wellness approved to run in the MTA (New York City’s subway system). After years and a positive outcome in a law suit, Dame ultimately won the right to do what Roman and Hims had been doing all along — advertising what they had prohibited for Dame. Somehow the MTA has thought that for some reason only Dame’s ads “promote(d) a sexually oriented business, which has long been prohibited by the MTA’s advertising standards.” NOT ANYMORE!!!
Take Pulse, a company that sells lubricants and massage oils with a warmer, that elevate the intimate wellness experience, with its patented delivery. In 2019, Amy Buckalter, the CEO and Founder, told CNBC, that Facebook’s policies and rejection of her company’s ads made it even more expensive and time-consuming to attract customers and grow. One of the comments Buckalter got when submitting an ad to Facebook — that was subsequently rejected — was that vaginal dryness is too sexual in nature. Ok. I will take the bait. I challenge you, Meta, to find even 2 vagina owners on the entire planet Earth, who would describe vaginal dryness as sexual.
And my first foray in this situation was over 11 years ago, when a brave reporter shared the trials and tribulations of a company I had co-founded, which had a product for arousal, desire and satisfaction. Not only did Facebook shut us down, but so did 94 other outlets, including websites, networks, cable stations, and radio stations. Yes, and at that time, companies were still able to run advertisements for products for erectile dysfunction among others. It is important to note that we are in our third decade of a world with Viagra and other ED ads everywhere. Yet, the advertisers, especially the powerful Meta (with its old name and the same old uneven policies), scream “STOP, that is taboo” when it comes to serving an ad about the majority of items related to females and those of diverse genders.
The Center for Intimacy Justice, and its fearless leader, Jackie Rotman, will not rest. Nor will the rest of the dynamic, creative, resourceful, resilient people and companies in the space. And maybe soon, Meta will be old news. And there will be a new sheriff in town!!
