Ford Motor Company decided to stop running advertisements on Twitter after Elon Musk took the reigns of the social media platform, as reported by Forbes. The decision is being made as the automaker determines how the new CEO and his team will alter the platform in the coming days, with The Blue Oval making the decision not long after rival General Motors revealed a similar pivot. Both automakers now face whether to continue operating on a platform that is being operated by one of their chief competitors in what is an unprecedented scenario for the industry.
The publication confirmed the move with spokesperson Said Deep, who reiterated that the company is working to evaluate any changes to Twitter and that it will continue to engage with customers on the site despite the change. Musk recently reassured companies that the platform would not completely abolish content moderation, but comments earlier this year about his desire to change policies related to that issue have rattled corporations that utilize Twitter for advertisements and engagement. As Ford Authority has detailed, CEO Jim Farley is an active Twitter user, and has even directly engaged with Elon Musk on the platform, although those interactions took place long before the Tesla CEO expressed any desire to purchase the social media site.
This latest decision also comes at a time when Ford is broadly rethinking its marketing and advertisement strategies. The automaker recently decided to name ad agency Wieden+Kennedy its global agency of choice, a move likely made in light of the massively successful 2022 Ford Maverick marketing initiative on Twitter rival TikTok. Currently, Ford claims that the compact pickup is the most popular vehicle on the platform.
Additionally, Ford CEO Jim Farley has not been subtle about his desire for the company to make more extreme changes to how it spends money on advertisements and marketing. His ultimate goal is to focus on the post-purchase experience instead of traditional ads, a goal that would ostensibly be better at customer retention and engagement.
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Comments
Considering SpaceX and Tesla both use Ford vans and trucks, this would not be a smart move. Ford would be pi$$ing off a paying customer.
I don’t think those sales are a material concern to either of them.
I have a 21′ F-150 that is a rattle trap POS. Before that my 19′ Ranger was full of buzzes and rattles and the paint was terrible. I have owned Ford’s my whole life, but this is the last one. Glad to see they are worried about what matters, politics, and not vehicle quality.
Uh huh
Cool story bro!
Worried about “WOKE” extremism instead of making quality a priority.
Maybe it’s not your personal lived experience, but most folks and organizations CAN walk AND chew gum.
Congratulations Ford!
You’re idiots.
I’m not an expert on internet lingo, but in this instance you seem to qualify for what the kids these days call “butthurt”?
RWFA, stock up on Vaseline now. Next Tuesday is going to be quite hard for you to choke down.
Oh David bouncing from rooting for failure to crass mind in the gutter nonsense! Stay classy you sad hateful person you.
And if Ford were applauding the changes the woke crowd would be out throwing buckets of paint on every Ford vehicle on the street.
You always so hyperbolically silly?
So Ford is ok with Putin having an account on Twitter but now that Musk owns it they are concerned…smh
Happy to pour money into communist China owned TikTok, but not a platform dedicated to freedom and open expression.
I’ve been shopping for a new truck and this make my choice easier. Guess im going back to the Toyota dealer.
This is why I will stop my life long support of Ford Products. I hate to say my next cars and trucks will not be Fords!
Ford is so stupid, but heck, they run the company like the pathetic football team they own. Ford will never be a world class automaker until we vote the Ford family shares to have only one vote per share . No more special class B family share s. They own less than 1% of the stock but over 40% of the vote . Every other publicly traded company stopped that practice decades ago. Never buying a Ford product again . Ford likes liberal censorship, and hates free speech.
This is a bitter bunch on here constantly bashing Ford. Kind of odd considering it’s a site dedicated to Ford.
Agreed. The volume of imbecilic comments and sock puppetry for Toyota is amusing.
I visit this site daily just to see what’s up with Ford. Unfortunately, all the negativity in the comment section is a disappointment to say the least.
For years the brand loyal Ford customers have watched Ford move to the left. When Bill Ford was chairman of the Sierra Club no one batted an eye since the product still had value and quality. Now with the EV shift in enthusiasm and their attempt to cancel Twitter, it only shows the bias that we all suspected for years.
So all of y’all are angry that a private company is no longer using the services of another private company and want said to, how you say, cancel their services?
Newsflash: Saying and supporting those who use heavy amounts of slurs and derogatory remarks was never a good thing.
Also Freedom of Speech simply means that the government won’t punish you for what you say. But that doesn’t mean private parties have to host yo up, give you a platform, listen to you, or give you services. Your actions and words have consequences, and if you cry like a toddler because people got angry at you for throwing slurs around like a 50s KKK meeting, then it’s YOU who needs to grow up.
Also Elon Musk has literally fired employees in all of his companies if they say anything that isn’t 100 percent positive about him, so what makes you think he believes in a free speech (no consequence) platform?
Thanks for bringing some sanity and grounded adult commentary to balance out all the adolescent butthurt and reactionary zealotry in the rest of the comments.
Having stock in Ford I also am not happy about the company. Electric cars may be the future. But the future is far away. And how many liberals buy a Ford F 150 ?
Very disappointed that Ford has stopped advertising on twitter now that twitter is no longer censoring conservatives. Ford, who do you think buys your big trucks?
I have owned Fords my entire adult life. I have two in the driveway. I was considering downsizing from the F150 to a new Ranger. Not now. Ford apparently believes that the middle class people, who are currently being crushed by bad politics, should have no voice, should not be allowed to talk back to the social elite ruling class. I firmly disagree. My last Ford truly was ‘my last Ford.
WOW Ford, I never thought I’d see the day when you went woke. My grandfather was a Ford Dealer, I even wear the watch that Lee Iococa gave him for selling more trucks than any other dealer. My grandfather would roll in his grave seeing how corporate Ford is acting. We have 16 Ford vehicles in our fleet, NO MORE!! You have lost our allegiance, bad move.