Facebook has fairly strict policies surrounding what photos can be uploaded onto the popular social media site.
Its community standards guidelines state that images containing violence, nudity, and sexual activity are strictly prohibited. But there seems to be a bit of a grey area regarding partial nudity.
Pictures of women breast-feeding are allowed on the site, and Facebook claims post-mastectomy scarring photos are allowed. But one breast cancer network was shocked to find the opposite to be true.
Breast Cancer Network Australia’s (BCNA) latest fundraising campaign was taken off Facebook for nudity violation.
According to Buzzfeed News , the campaign featured photos of ten breast cancer survivors, nine of whom were women and one man, posing topless with baked goods.
The not-for-profit partnered with Bakers Delight bakery for their fundraising efforts and initially had Facebook’s approval for the photos advertising their “Pink Fun Buns” campaign. However, Facebook reportedly rejected the ads at the last minute.
BCNA CEO Kirsten Pilatti says Facebook is instrumental in the success of the campaign.
“The opening days of the campaign are where we raise the most money for BCNA to ensure we can provide free resources to those people with breast cancer,” she said.
ABC News reported Facebook banned the images for violating the site’s partial-nudity policy, a move which BCNA has branded “nonsensical.”
Facebook has defended their ban of the ad by insisting the photos contained no education about the disease.
“I love these ads and our team has been working hard to allow them to run on our platforms,” Antonia Sand, Facebook Australia’s Head of Communications, told ABC News.
She added, “We have been working with the advertiser to advise them on how to run these ads and are disappointed that they have not taken our guidance.”
The platform said BCNA’s ads were selling a product, not teaching anything.
Because of the nature of the ads and the partnership with the bakery, Facebook treated the campaign as a for-profit advertisement and held it to higher photo-guideline standards.
Nudity laws are stricter when it comes to advertising on Facebook.
“Nudity or implied nudity” and “excessive visible skin of cleavage, even if not explicitly sexual in nature” in Facebook ads is strictly prohibited, Buzzfeed News reported.
Although the pictures complied with Facebook’s photo standards, since they did not align with its ad guidelines, the entire campaign was taken down.
The platform has now come under fire for its rejection of the campaign with the public voicing their upset.
“Ridiculous,” one Twitter user said. “People need to see the message.”
Another Instagram user shared their disappointment: “This was such a bad decision for Facebook. Something needs to change. It’s so disappointing to see some of the stuff gets on to Facebook continually being allowed and yet this is deemed inappropriate.”
While the campaign is no longer available on Facebook, BCNA has posted the photos on their other social media.
On their Instagram , the not-for-profit is encouraging supporters to take part in the “Pink Bun” fundraising campaign and enjoy some baked goods from the bakery while contributing to a good cause.
From May 1-15, all profits made through the sale of the pink fun buns will go to the organization.
Following this, BCNA’s website explains $1 of each purchase will go to the organization until the fundraiser finishes at the end of the month.
