On Wednesday, Disney announced that Hulu would accept political advertising after all.
The streamer made headlines this week after Hulu rejected ads on gun control and abortion from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Governors Association. However, now Disney is reversing the decision.
“After a thorough review of ad policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the last few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the Company’s general entertainment and sports cable networks and ESPN+,” the company said in a statement to Adweek. “Hulu will now accept candidate and issue advertisements covering a wide spectrum of policy positions, but reserves the right to request edits or alternative creative, in alignment with industry standards.”
The Democratic groups attempted to buy ads focusing on issues such as abortion and gun control with Hulu on July 15, with identical placements on an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia and ESPN, according to The Washington Post. But, of course, the ads didn’t run on Hulu for “content-related” issues.
The initial rejection led to the Democratic groups calling Hulu’s decision “outrageous” and “offensive,” and the news made #BoycottHulu trend on social media.
Disney’s announcement now puts Hulu’s political ad policy in line with ESPN, which ran the ads without any apparent issues.