Dignity Defense Alert: Kraft Heinz and Unilever Recognized for Cutting Ties with Pornhub

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is pleased to recognize Kraft Heinz and Unilever as the recipients of its Dignity Defense Alert for publicly stating that they would not advertise on Pornhub, or similar pornographic sites.

The New York Times recently exposed Pornhub for “monetize[ing] child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content.” NCOSE has also filed a class action lawsuit against Pornhub on behalf of two survivors of childhood sex trafficking whose videos and images of their sexual abuse were posted on Pornhub and other MindGeek-owned sites.

In 2019, both Unilever and Kraft Heinz ran ads for their products on Pornhub. Following public outcry, Unilever quickly cut ties with Pornhub, vowing to never advertise on a pornography website again. Not long after NCOSE called out Kraft Heinz, the company’s consumer relations emailed people who complained, stating: “We are very sorry we disappointed you as that is never our intent with our marketing. Kraft Heinz has pledged not to advertise or promote any of its brands on Pornhub or other similar sites.”

“Pornhub profits from rape, child sexual abuse, nonconsensual content, and other racist, misogynistic content. We applaud Kraft Heinz and Unilever for taking a firm public stance to no longer do business with Pornhub and other pornography sites,” said Lina Nealon, director of corporate and strategic initiatives for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “These corporations were among the first to publicly cut ties with Pornhub, and they helped trigger a growing recognition that mainstream institutions should not be supporting the infrastructure of an inherently abusive, exploitative industry.”

Kraft Heinz, Unilever, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are among mainstream companies that have publicly broken ties with Pornhub.

However, NCOSE states that all companies should refuse to do business with Pornhub. To that end, NCOSE subsidiary, the International Centre on Sexual Exploitation, along with Collective Shout (Australia), Defend Dignity (Canada), Traffickinghub (USA) have started a joint campaign, #DismantlePornhub, to call out entities that support the infrastructure of Pornhub and MindGeek. Roku was the first to be challenged, as 41 survivors and advocates have called for Roku to shut down the Pornhub private channel. The #DismantlePornhub Campaign is also calling on e-commerce retailer Wish and clothing manufacturer Diesel to stop advertising on Pornhub, given that 50% of MindGeek’s revenue comes from advertising.

On April 8, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, will hold an online briefing for U.S. congressional staff and law enforcement professionals that will present evidence of MindGeek-owned Pornhub’s abuse.

NCOSE’s Dignity Defense Alert is a new campaign to recognize the people, companies, and nonprofits, who are taking action to defend human dignity from any form of sexual abuse or exploitation.

About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)

Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.