Starting Wednesday, Hulu will now allow political ads and candidate ads on its streaming service after its parent company, the Walt Disney Company, reviewed and re-evaluated its advertising policies.
The move comes after the streaming service received backlash earlier this week after a report said he was rejecting ads from Democratic organizations on issues such as abortion, gun control and climate change.
What You Need to Know
The Walt Disney Company said Wednesday that Hulu will now allow political ads and candidate ads on its streaming service.
“Following a comprehensive review of advertising policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the past several months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the general sports and entertainment cable networks of the company and ESPN+,” a statement from The Walt. Disney Company said
The company added that it “reserves the right to request edits or alternative creative, consistent with industry standards.” The move comes after the streaming service. received backlash earlier this week after a report said he was rejecting ads from Democratic organizations on issues such as abortion, gun control and climate change
The news was first reported by Axios.
In a statement sent to Spectrum News on Wednesday, Disney stated that “Following a comprehensive review of advertising policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the past few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the company’s overall entertainment and sports cable networks and ESPN+.”
However, the company said it still has the right to request modifications.
“Hulu will now accept candidates and run ads that cover a broad spectrum of political positions, but reserves the right to request edits or alternative creative, consistent with industry standards,” the company added.
The controversy began Monday when the Washington Post reported that on July 15, three Democratic Party committees – the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) – attempted to buy ads sets on abortion rights and gun control with Hulu.
Despite being accepted and featured on Youtube, Roku, NBC, Facebook, and broadcast and cable TV, the ads were rejected by Hulu due to “content-related” issues..
Unlike TV networks, Hulu and other streaming services are not subject to the Communications Act of 1934, a law that requires TV networks to give politicians equal access to the airwaves. Streaming services have control over which ads you run.
The ambiguity of Hulu’s policy sparked outrage online and Democratic committees.
In a joint statement sent to Spectrum News a day before Disney changed its ad policy, DSCC, DCCC and DGA executive directors Christie Roberts, Tim Persico and Noam Lee said that “Hulu’s censorship of the truth it’s outrageous.”
“Voters have a right to know the facts about the MAGA Republicans’ agenda on issues like abortion,” they said. “Hulu is doing the American people a huge disservice by preventing voters from knowing the truth about the GOP’s record or denying that these issues are discussed.”
The committees asked Hulu to reverse its ad policy, affirming that it is “blocking Americans from getting information about some of the most critical issues in these midterm elections.”
In response to the Democratic committee’s protest, several Twitter users publicly announced they were canceling their Hulu subscriptions and encouraged others to do the same with the hashtag ‘#BoycottHulu’ trending on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
“I’m canceling Hulu today,” he wrote Fred Guttenberg, a prominent gun safety activist, whose daughter, Jamie, was killed on February 14, 2018, in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Musician April Smith urged her followers on Twitter to “Cancel your Hulu subscription until they get the message.” he wrote on Twitter. “You won’t miss The Handmaid’s Tale because we’re basically living through the first season right now.”
Democratic committees weren’t the only ones to receive Hulu ads in recent months. Earlier this month, Suraj Patel, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York City, posted a letter to Hulufirst reported by Jezebelwhich exposed that the streaming service had required his campaign to remove at least one of three “sensitive” issues (abortion, climate change or gun laws) from its digital campaign ads and replace it with an issue “not sensitive”.
In the letter, Patel demanded that Hulu stop the policy that required it to “censor” a campaign ad before it could air.
“To not address these issues in my campaign announcement is to not address the most important issues facing America,” Patel said. on demand. “We are at an absolutely critical time in our nation’s history. How are voters supposed to make informed decisions if their candidates can’t talk about the most important issues of the day?
In May, it was reported that Hulu rkicked out that of Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux D-Ga., ad that mentioned his “pro-choice stance.” In a statement, Bourdeaux called on Hulu to “remove this dangerous and outrageous ban on pro-choice advertising.”
During the 2020 campaign cycle, Priorities USA Action and the Color of Change PAC, two independent liberal groups, rejected ads by Hulu, Google and Verizon that showed clips of police beating protesters during Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020
“Hulu is one of the most impactful platforms for advertising to young voters,” wrote Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott. on Twitter. “By blocking ads on issues like climate change and abortion, Hulu is effectively censoring Democrats from engaging a massive swath of voters on the most critical issues facing our country.”
