Thread by @marjodasays

Is ad spend funding an increase in Trans+ hate crime?

Endless anti-trans reporting is driving clicks and ruining lives, and advertisers need to act.

As Joint CEO of LGBTQIA+ advocacy group @Outvertising, let me explain how this works.

A thread 🧵1/

Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old trans girl, was stabbed to death in a park in Warrington on February 11th. During the hearing on the following Wednesday, the prosecutor told the court that Brianna's death was "extremely brutal and punishing". 2/

Two teenagers, a boy and girl both aged 15, have now been charged with her murder and will stand trial in July. The police said they were investigating the possibility that it was an anti-trans hate crime. 3/

UK newspapers have stoked a trans-hostile environment. According to data from community database @Dysphorum, over the past 5 years, there’s been a 217% increase in stories about trans people. In 2022, there were 7,525 articles, the vast majority with negative framing. 4/

In January this year, in the weeks leading up to Brianna’s murder, there were 1,202 articles. That’s an average of 38 articles a day. 5/

We created this infographic showing the total share of volume by publisher, it includes all publishers captured by community database @Dysphorum (Jan '18 - Dec '23) 6/

The 2021 census for England and Wales revealed that just 0.5% of the population have a gender identity that is different from the one they were assigned at birth. That’s a huge amount of media coverage centred on a very small % of the population. 7/

stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/…

Traditional newspaper titles, @DailyMailUK, @DailyMirror, @Daily_Express, @guardian, @Independent, @spectator, @TheSun, @Telegraph and @thetimes have all contributed with trans-hostile reporting. I feel they all have blood on their hands. 8/

Even in reporting the death of Brianna, the media failed her.

Brianna’s friend Jade told Vice’s @BenInLDN that she felt “sick” because of the way media outlets initially reported Brianna’s death. 9/

vice.com/en/article/7k8…

Some used her deadname (her birth name). Others ignored the fact she was trans. And when they did, they wouldn’t use her correct pronouns. @IpsoNews have a consultation running at the moment if you care to contribute. 10/ ipso.co.uk/what-we-do/con…

Hate drives attention, and we advertisers are paying for that attention. In the @parislees podcast, ‘The Flipside’, Paris speaks with professor Mary McNaughton-Cassill – a clinical psychologist who studies how the news affects our stress levels. 11/

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

The professor explains that “...the way the brain works is, we pay more attention to sensational negative things” and “we’re always wired to be scanning for danger.” 12/

I want to thank @MaisieMcCabe and @Campaignmag for publishing this piece for @outvertising. For the piece, I could have gone for a more sensationalist spin on the headline. Something like ‘Is there blood in your media plan?’ to grab attention. 13/

campaignlive.co.uk/article/adspen…

But I chose not to do this. Yes, I want your attention, but I want your minds open to the evidence I'm presenting. And anger and fear are not emotions we should centre in our long term decision-making. 14/

Sensationalist, fear-inducing headlines are commonplace among UK newspapers. I don’t need to mention the full list of their targets here, but we all know them. It’s not informing us well. It’s not healthy. And we’re all the poorer for it. Here’s some from the past 12 months. 15/

Advertisers are unknowingly funding the largest anti-trans campaign we’ve ever seen. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but it’s one we must grapple with. We’re finding ourselves funding a forever intensifying, never-ending campaign of hate against the trans community. #advertising 16/

The World Association of News Publishers @NewspaperWorld assessed that over 50% of news publisher revenue comes from advertising. The ‘gender critical’ journalists are pumping out execution after execution of this hate campaign and are paid generously from our hands. #adland 17/

This campaign is setting the news agenda and leading our whole media and politics to become infected by its poison. 18/

It’s important for us to consider the role of social platforms & broadcasters in this ecosystem, too. They also have questions to answer. TV and Radio broadcasters are platforming ‘gender critical’ voices unchallenged - framing anti-trans narrative as ‘legitimate concerns’. 19/

Sensationalist stories act like kindling for conversation across social platforms, allowing hateful views to burn like wildfire and become reinforced in algorithmic bubbles. 20/

Hate speech is commonplace and sanctions from platforms on users are slow if forthcoming at all. This commentary then provides content to be platformed and amplified by the media vying for attention to then sell on to us advertisers. 21/

I, myself, experienced this recently when it took two weeks for @twitter to remove content that I reported. This image of my face was reposted by this user to their 1,000+ followers with the words “The Danger” and sweet and lollipop emojis. 22/

This tweet implied I was a danger to children. That I’m grooming children. This is very clear transphobia. My initial response from Twitter was to tell me there had been no violations. While my local MP @DrRosena encouraged me to report it to the police. 23/

This anti-trans campaign is incredibly effective. It’s no surprise to us advertisers that mass communication coupled with message reinforcement works. Professor Mary McNaughton-Cassill remarks that “if something is repeated often enough, we’ll assume it’s true.” #adland 24/

.@YouGov revealed attitudes toward trans people have eroded. Now, the majority disagree that a trans woman is a woman and the majority now believe allowing trans women to use spaces reserved for women presents a genuine risk to cis women. 25/
yougov.co.uk/topics/society…

And those changing attitudes inevitably lead to negative behaviours. Last year, the government reported a 56% increase in recorded hate crime on the basis of trans identity (4,355 total incidents). 26/

gov.uk/government/sta…

The true figure is likely to be a lot higher according to a recent @stonewalluk study, revealing “81% of LGBT people who experienced a hate crime or incident didn't report it to the police.” 27/

stonewall.org.uk/lgbt-britain-h…

At the time of the release of these figures, LGBT+ anti-abuse charity, @GalopUK, responded to this rise, “Transphobic narratives in the media, and at a senior political level, have been allowed to grow unregulated, unchecked, and unchallenged. 28/

galop.org.uk/news/galops-st…

.@GalopUK continue, “That translates into violence against our community – particularly for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people. Let us be clear – there is a direct line between words and violent acts against our community, and always has been.” 29/

Speaking at the @consciousadnet’s first conference in November last year, I posed a question: “Which hate crime is your advert funding?” This question sticks in my throat now. 30/

The Trans+ community needs unconditional and active allyship from advertisers. 31/

Listen, I believe passionately that we need a robust press and we need to hold power to account, but as a citizen of this country and a trans person, I know our press is not informing us properly on trans lives and trans people’s issues. 32/

The opposite is true – everything is through the lens of some people’s irrational issues with trans people, not trans people’s real issues. This is a repeat of the gay moral panic that swept through the media in the 80s. 33/

.@owenjones84 a couple of years ago remarked that “today’s relentless campaign against trans people seems a near-carbon copy of the previously widespread monstering of gay and bisexual people” 34/

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1434053566344335365?s=20

.@hopenothate’s recent report also breaks down the collaboration at play between the far right, conspiracist and anti-LGBTQ+ activism. As noted by @stonewalluk CEO @Nancy_M_K here 35/

https://twitter.com/Nancy_M_K/status/1630617009372250129?s=20

The trans issues that are not getting attention are mental health, accessible trans healthcare, hate speech and, yes, physical violence. @TransActualUK provide a good breakdown of issues faced by trans people. 36/

transactual.org.uk/healthcare-tra…

Politicians are using the trans community to distract from their failings and manufacturing a culture war. The media are caught in a model where hate is incentivised. And trans people are being failed as a result. Brianna was failed. 37/

Speaking with @VICENews’s @BenInLDN, another of Brianna’s trans girlfriends, Hannah, said “If Bri would have wanted anything from her passing, it would be change.” It falls on businesses to drive that change. We advertisers are that change. 38/

vice.com/en/article/7k8…

I attended the vigils for Brianna outside the Department for Education and in Soho Square, I was struck by one message I read: ‘The trans agenda is an average life expectancy.’ 39/

We need to wake up to our complicity as advertisers.

#LoveIsLove, but it's money that talks.

Is there blood in your media plan? The answer is probably yes. It’s uncomfortable to read because it’s an uncomfortable truth. 40/

I volunteer with @Outvertising – the marketing and advertising industry’s LGBTQIA+ advocacy group, where I am Joint CEO. We’re working with organisations such as @consciousadnet and @StopFundingHate to develop practical positive steps advertisers can take. 41/

But we also need our #advertising and #marketing industry to develop solutions too. Talk to us at @Outvertising and work with us to create change. 42/

Let’s fix a broken ecosystem.

Let’s invest in quality, truthful and inclusive journalism.

Let’s remove hate from our media plans.

Let’s let trans kids be trans kids – and let’s see them grow old.

Rest in Pride, Brianna.

43/

The article was originally published in @Campaignmag. Campaign is the world’s leading business media brand serving the marketing, advertising and media communities. So this message should reach influencers of media plans.

campaignlive.co.uk/article/adspen…

The piece has also been published on the @outvertising blog. Here you can see all the charts that are also in this Twitter thread.

outvertising.org/news/is-ad-spe…

More detail from @Dysphorum

https://twitter.com/Dysphorum/status/1631612815793348609?s=20

Here’s a specific recent example of a national paper, this time @DailyMailUK, monstering trans people with a story containing no factual basis. @sophie_frm_mars speaks with @OwenJones84

https://twitter.com/sophie_frm_mars/status/1632061942004084737