Gamergate: Gawker Loses BMW, Mercedes, And Adobe Advertising Due To ‘Bullying’ Gamers

The Gamergate movement is continuing to have an impact, since it’s now being reported that Gawker Media Group has lost advertising revenue from BMW, Mercedes, and Adobe over the alleged “bullying” of gamers.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, Gamergate has been a controversial issue, with actor Adam Baldwin claiming it’s really about ethics in journalism and combating the alleged progressive bias in the media. On the other side of the debate, actress Felicia Day believes Gamergate is an attack on women, and some have even called Gamergate a “plague on gaming.” But those in the Gamergate movement have also pointed out that their members have been doxxed, threatened, and hacked for their beliefs.

When BMW Customer Relations responded to the Gamergate controversy, this is how it was phrased, according to emails sent out.

“Thank you for writing to BMW of North America, LLC. We understand your concerns and the BMW Group does note tolerate bullying or the disparagement of individuals. We have taken action to ensure we do not advertise with Gawker.”

In the case of Adobe, it’s alleged that Gawker editor in chief Max Read, and another Gawker writer named Sam Biddle, published tweets that apparently condoning bullying of “nerds” and gamers. Although Gawker published a front-page statement saying they did not condone bullying, the damage had already been done.

The potential effect Gamergate may have on Gawker cannot be understated. Internet-only media like Gawker rely on advertisers exclusively for their income, so when major advertisers like BMW and Adobe pull out, it’s got to hurt.

According to Breitbart, Gawker’s Max Read was recently quoted as saying, “I’ve been told that we’ve lost thousands of dollars already, and could potentially lose thousands more, if not millions.”

According to Business Management Daily, this news comes on the heels of the announcement that Gawker is the target of a class action lawsuit claiming they used unpaid intern labor, which allegedly violates labor laws.

“Unpaid interns for the website Gawker.com have won a round in court in their attempt to bring a class-action suit under the Fair Labor Standards Act…. The court ruled the interns performed work similar to that of paid employees, contributed content to Gawker’s publications, moderated sections of its websites and received primarily on-the-job training. They had to follow Gawker’s general policies, were supervised in the same way as employees and received communications from management in the same way employees did. They also used the same internal communications systems employees did, were expected to work independently and received no special training or instruction. In other words, the company treated the interns just like employees in all ways except one—they weren’t paid.”

What do you think about the Gamergate movement?

[Image via Gawker]