Open Letter to Journalists About Facebook and Breasts

You as a journalist should be aware of this situation with Facebook.

Facebook reportedly banned/censored profile photos of nursing mothers on the grounds that they are obscene:

-The Age (Australian Newspaper) report dated Sept. 7th (note, topless
ads are referred to even back then)
-Facebook Group (yeah, ironic, I know) that is petition against Facebook for banning nursing photos. As of the other day, this group has 34,264 members
-Blog post dated Sept. 12 about the situation.

This week a prominent Boston-area blogger named Chris Brogan was served, and reported on his blog and on twitter, ads for a sex video chat service. The ad was a photo of a topless woman provocatively posed
-Blog post documenting topless ads served to a Facebook business user.

In addition to the inconsistency of these actions/policies, having topless ads on a “business-oriented” social network is a serious liability for Facebook.

Another piece of the puzzle is that according to analysis of Facebook’s own targeted advertising data, 2/3 of their use is coming from women. Interesting they would treat women/breasts so badly, considering this.
-http://www.profy.com/2007/11/23/women-growing-to-become-great-majority-on-the-social-web/

To editorialize: I find this very egregious, and I am amazed they haven’t been called on it or pressed to respond. I think the general public would be kind of horrified by this. I think the situation is outrageous and Facebook should immediately, and loudly, address it, fix it, and apologize.

Thanks for any ideas or follow-up you wish to share.

With regards,
Laura Fitton
(Social Media Consultant and nursing mother)

www.Twitter.com/Pistachio

www.PistachioConsulting.com