Hulu users call for boycott as the streaming service bans ads about gun control and abortion rights
Streaming services aren't bound to the same rules as regular TV when it comes to political ads
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Calls to #BoycottHulu and #CancelHulu have been trending today on social media in response to reports from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Governors Association that the streaming service is refusing to run ads about abortion rights and gun safety laws, presumably on the grounds that the ads are political in nature and Hulu has a vaguely defined “unwritten” policy against political ads.
Democrats are now accusing Hulu of censorship, with it objecting to ads that have been allowed to air on other streaming platforms and on regular television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Suraj Patel, a Democratic candidate for Congress, says he was told by Hulu that ads about “abortion, guns, climate change, and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack” are too “sensitive” and cannot be shown on Hulu with edits.
Interestingly, THR points out that the Communications Act of 1934 requires TV networks to air political ads with no censorship of “any form” from “both parties” (we can’t help but point out that nobody is forcing us to have two political parties other than the leadership of those political parties who have a vested interest in the status quo, but that’s not really the issue here), but streaming services are not bound to that law—possibly because they weren’t around in 1934—so they’re an “increasingly popular” outlet for politicians.
Hulu doesn’t have a specific policy regarding political ads, but apparently its reviews ads with some sort of political message “on a case-by-case basis” and prohibits “content that takes a position on a controversial issue of public importance.” That being said, THR says that Hulu ran a pro-Trump ad in 2020 about the “deep state” and “socialist price controls” manipulating our healthcare system. So… yeah.
If this kind of faux-neutrality seems familiar, it might be because Hulu is majority-owned by Disney, which is run by Bob Chapek, whose own faux-neutrality blew up in his face earlier this year when he initially refused to comment on Florida’s horrifically homophobic and anti-trans “Don’t Say Gay” bill. You’d think someone in the corporate Disney chain would’ve realized that remaining silent on “a controversial issue of public importance” does not accomplish what they think it does, but here we are.
55 Comments
I’m sorry, but I find it hard to be upset that my Hulu ads will not be yelling at me about politics. I can rest easy knowing I won’t have to sit through another ‘No on Prop 27′ ad I didn’t ask to see 100 times even though I’m already planning to vote no!
See but Hulu doesn’t have a no political ads at all policy. Just no on these political ads specifically.
I love when Americans are shocked to learn that media conglomerates are largely owned by conservatives who love loose regulations and tax breaks.
I’m not sure that qualifies as news to most people at this point—even the ones getting upset. But this is a particularly troubling reminder, and I think a boycott may be appropriate. (Personally, I plan to decide by midnight. I’m leaning towards canceling.)
The same way many of our liberal celebrities probably have Trumpsters managing their money. And I don’t mean their agents. Their financial agents.
Eh, probably not in LA. They might be conservatives or republicans, but I doubt they’re Trumpers.
Trump is the republican party.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but when I picture a Trumper, I picture someone who still to this day openly supports him with merch, flags, positive comments online or in person, and people who are particularly adverse to the idea of democrats doing anything. Oh, and people who believe the election was a lie.
I get the distinction you’re making, but also, they’ll vote for him if/when he runs in 2024, so I choose to lump them all together.
We’re not all as with-it as you, Argie.
Not with-it at all, but rather given up on expecting media corporations to do the right thing unless it benefits their bottom line.
Close enough.
I don’t watch Hulu that much (just one episode of Only Murders in the Building per week right now) – do they have political ads in general? I don’t really remember any off the top of my head.Don’t see an issue if their stance is just no political ads whatsoever. As a side note, streaming services with ads typically have such awful variety in ads, I somewhat wonder how it makes business sense at all. I recently decided to watch a show on Pluto TV and I swear the only ads they showed were one of three trailers of Paramount+ movies that are either out or soon to be out mixed with one ad touting other progamming on Pluto TV. iMDB TV (now Freevee) similarly had a rotation of roughly five ads that it cycled through over and over again. If anything, the overexposure to the same ads over and over made me more pissed off at the product being sold and made me conciously decide to never check it out or purchase it. I might have watched Jerry and Marge Go Large someday if I hadn’t been subjected to 100 trailers of it to binge one show.
Don’t see an issue if their stance is just no political ads whatsoever.Hulu doesn’t have a specific policy regarding political ads, but apparently its reviews ads with some sort of political message “on a case-by-case basis” and prohibits “content that takes a position on a controversial issue of public importance.” That being said, THR says that Hulu ran a pro-Trump ad in 2020 about the “deep state” and “socialist price controls” manipulating our healthcare system.
Guess I missed that. Just pro-Trump ads? Or are they airing ads for both parties and just don’t want to cover these issues?If there is a clear bias one way, I would get the outrage and calls for boycotts. If not, still don’t see an issue.
I’ve only seen Trump ads.
I don’t remember hearing anything about this at the time it supposedly happened, which you’d think would be common knowledge if it was being served to people at random nationwide.
I suspect a lot of their ads are targeted and not random, at least based on the ads I used to see when I subscribed.
I sure hope not, I keep getting Forest Lawn ads. I’m 30, I’m not dying anytime soon Hulu.I also, and I cannot stress this enough, absolutely hate Trump and anything that has to do with him, yet I’ve gotten Trump ads in the past.
I figure if the advertiser pays enough everyone sees their ad. That would explain some of the political ads I saw.
Pluto’s ads vary between variety and no variety. For one thing, it all depends on what channels you watch. Like regular TV, not all the channels get all the ads. The game show channels, for example, get ads for insurance and medicine, kids channels get toys and Happy Meal stuff, while News gets all the, well, news ads.
The most common ads I see are for fast food, laundry detergent, and medicine.
I think a lot of folks would prefer no political ads whatsoever.
The republican dude running for congress in my area is every other hulu add for me…sooooooo……
I mean, I’m fully in support of abortion rights and gun control, but am relieved that I won’t have to sit through ads that won’t change anyone’s mind.
Ah the classic “I assume my opinion is everyone’s opinion because I’m always right” mindset. Wait never mind I don’t exist in your narrative!
Do you ever say anything worthwhile?
I mean, good for you if you changed your opinion after being bombarded by ads. That said, I’d much be in a country that had stricter rules on paid political advertising instead.
What is YouTube’s policy on ads?
YouTube runs political ads. I’ve seen the same ads crop up as I see during commercial breaks on live tv. At least on YouTube I can click off of the garbage after 5 seconds.
Thanks. I asked because I don’t pay attention and it seems like most of the ads are for products geared to my searches.
What about the ones that begin with parents of dead kids plaintively asking you to please listen before clicking skip?
I think it’s “MORE ADS! MORE MORE MORE!!! Oh, what? You were listening to that song? Tough shit! ADS!”
Guns and abortion are hot topics, but LGBT probably is too, and Hulu has been showing a fair amount of Pride ads (I’m on the $1/month promotion currently), so I don’t see the issue. They’re full of it. Especially for a platform that is the home of “I Am Greta” the award-winning documentary of child climate activist Greta Thunberg. What is Hulu doing to help with climate change? Not airing ads that might help with climate change.
Hulu has been showing a fair amount of Pride adsWell, that’s nice. Maybe the boycott’s too much, after all.
Maybe you can help by killing yourself.
buddy – it was pride month. those are just normal ads that happened to be pride-themed.
Is that why there’s so many black people on the TeeVee in February?
LGBT isn’t a “hot topic” it’s a group of people. That’s like saying Black people are a hot topic so you’d prefer not to see them on your TV screen.
That’s what you just said.
Parents shaking their fists at Lightyear’s lesbian kiss for fear that it’ll turn their child gay need to grow the fuck up.
I have Hulu and I can only recall seeing one Pride ad in the last few weeks.
Same here (on the plan too). I also seem to get a lot of ads for dating services and they never have members of the opposite sex. Overall Hulu’s ads are terrible. They have way too many of them, especially considering what their regular price is for an ad plan.
I don’t have Hulu, so I don’t care what ads they run. But it’s amusing to see some people assuming that if Hulu doesn’t run these ads, people will never, ever learn about gun control, abortion laws, LGBT rights, etc. and will immediately vote Republican.
Do people actually still pay attention to political ads anymore?
Ads arent’t made to change your mind, they’re made to be background noise that seeps into your brain unconsciously.
In Georgia, where we will be voting for the same U.S. senate seat for the third time in 3 years (special election, runoff, election), the GOP/dark money people have been running some of the same ads, wall-to-wall, nonstop since 2020. It truly approaches brainwashing levels. Doesn’t help that broadcast channels are also accepting money to run ads that clearly reference the big lie and notion of a “stolen” election.
“But it’s amusing to see some people assuming that if Hulu doesn’t run these ads, people will never, ever learn about…”no one thought this, said this, or implied this lol
It’s practically an ad for straw men.
“How ‘bout a little fire, straw man?!”
“But it’s amusing to see some people assuming that if Hulu doesn’t run these ads, people will never, ever learn about gun control, abortion laws, LGBT rights, etc. and will immediately vote Republican.”
What the fuck are you talking about?
I think the problems lies in the fact that they’re willing to show Trump “deep state” ads, but they won’t show this.
Well, Seth MacFarlane, howdya feel about being on Hulu now, hmmmm???
‘member when we used to complain there were too many ads on TV… 😀
losers need ad-free hulu stat
This is what Gen Z does instead of voting?
Their policy actually defines not being able to have multiple “hot button issues” in the same ad. Patel wanted to run an ad that essentially had abortion rights/gun control/climate change/Jan 6 in it, and they wouldn’t let him do all of them in one ad. He recut the ad with two of them and Hulu signed off. A very weird and stupid rule, but not exactly censorship in the way the Democratic establishment would like you to think it is.
“but streaming services are not bound to that law—possibly because they weren’t around in 1934″The Communications Act of 1934 regulates broadcast television, which uses a shared resource, the sky, to transmit tv signals. Without regulation, shared resources cannot be used by anyone effectively. There would be no broadcast TV without some authority designating who can use which parts of the spectrum.Cable and streaming are transmitted via privately owned cables. Congress has no reason and no right (“Congress shall make no law…”) to regulate the content transmitted over those cables.