Advertising chiefs tout TikTok’s benefits for businesses in chilling video: ‘So unconscious’

Bosses at top advertising agencies are facing criticism for a video in which they praised TikTok in a slew of jokes and comedic vignettes — just days after Congress passed a bill that would force the sale or ban of the Chinese app.

The tone-deaf 75-second video, which has been circulating on LinkedIn since Saturday, features executives from Havas, IPG Mediabrands, Horizon Media, Publicis Group, GroupM and dentsu – all making pitches and jokes about why using TikTok is the ‘key to scaling up your network’. the success of the brand.”

In one segment, IPG Mediabrands’ Dani Benowitz pretended to be distracted by her phone while being filmed, calling audience engagement “TikTok’s superpower.”

“Of course we know there’s more to TikTok than Gen Z. How else would you explain that heartwarming dog videos always make me cry?” said Shelby Saville, CIO of Publicis Media, before crying into a tissue.

“We are in the media, of course the discovery on TikTok prompted me to buy fifty transparent folding shoe boxes,” Havas CEO Greg James said in yet another segment.

The video seemed ill-timed given the pressure in Washington to crack down on TikTok over national security concerns. Last month, President Biden signed a bipartisan bill that would force Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell within a year or face a total ban in the US.

None of the executives who participated in the video were compensated, according to TikTok.

Critics noted that the companies have doubled down on TikTok even as U.S.-based platforms — including traditional news outlets and Elon Musk-owned X — face a revenue crunch due to lost advertising revenue.

“At a time when ad execs are falling over themselves to get their contracts from social media platforms like policy advisor and CEO of Fixed Gear Strategies.

“Why would a marketing professional, especially when the clock is ticking on the forced divestiture of the app, be so ignorant as to delve into the data issues or the manipulation of the app’s algorithm?” Leamer added.

Representatives for the media companies did not immediately return requests for comment.

When asked to comment on the criticism of the ad executives’ participation in the video, a TikTok spokesperson declined to intervene.

“We certainly cannot be talking about the same video,” the TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.

Production of the video took place before, during and after Congress passed the divestiture bill, and participants knew when the video would be published, the company added — leaving some media insiders wondering what the ad execs were thinking.

“Normally something like this would get zero attention… there is nothing unusual about a media executive extolling the virtues of a particular platform,” one media executive told The Post. “However, given the political background, this is not the right time for this.”

Critics of TikTok have warned that the app could be used as a spying and information weapon for the Chinese Communist Party – potentially fueling everything from election interference to pro-terrorist propaganda and a mental health crisis among teenagers.

TikTok has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and touted its efforts to build a safe platform for US users. The app has also tried to galvanize the public to oppose the sale-or-ban law by highlighting its significant US user base and its impact on the US economy – the same points highlighted in the LinkedIn -video.

In March, TikTok published an economic impact study from Oxford Economics, which said the app had “contributed $24.2 billion to the US economy by 2023” through its work with small and medium-sized businesses.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has argued that the legislation would “take billions of dollars out of the pockets of small business creators” and “put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk” if it were to take effect.

The company has vowed to challenge the legislation in court.

As of Monday afternoon, the video had racked up 400 comments since it was posted. The LinkedIn account “TikTok For Business” has almost 275,000 followers.

The video was another sign that TikTok is “using American companies to advance the interests of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council.

“That is the core of Beijing’s malign influence in America: using American votes to weaken American democracy,” Sobolik said. “That’s what TikTok is: a CCP disinformation weapon to divide American voters and political groups.”

“American media companies should think twice before playing the CCP’s treacherous game,” Sobolik added. “It may help boost sales today, but it could irreparably harm America tomorrow.”