Join us at the Digiday Media Buying Summit from March 12-14 in Nashville
Digiday is at SXSW giving you the latest industry news out of the festival at Austin, Texas. More from the series →
With each year that goes by, it seems SXSW gets just a little more corporate. All the more to rally against! Here are four things people are protesting in Bat City this year.
Brands not paying bands to play at events
McDonald’s felt the heat of the fryer when it asked a musical duo, Ex Cop, to play at its event in Austin for exposure (i.e., “unpaid”). Ex Cop fought back with a Facebook post about the offer: “It is a horrifying and gross reality when one sees the true nature of corporations and their pathetic attempts to achieve relevance with millennials,” the duo wrote.
McDonald’s backtracked a few days later, saying they would pay performers after all. But there’s plenty of strong pro-musician sentiment.
Compensate Musicians Fairly #FairPay4Music https://t.co/vzj3DX4wbq via @wordpressdotcom Really, @mcdonalds, you can’t afford a couple bucks?
— Amy Conley (@amidee01) March 6, 2015
Robots
A group of University of Texas at Austin students, killing time before Spring Break apparently, staged a protest outside the Convention Center Saturday against artificial intelligence.
Humans are the future. Interesting protest going on outside the convention centre at #sxsw. #AI pic.twitter.com/aDHIe0t272 — Rachel Arthur (@rachel_arthur) March 14, 2015
“Brand Israel” events
SXSW is hosting a series of sessions this year from Israel, such as “Israel: Small country, Big ideas,” and some activists contend that this is an implicit endorsement of Israeli actions in Gaza.
We are protesting at #SXSW2015 @US_Campaign @jvplive #jvp2015 #NoHipsterApartheid pic.twitter.com/H32mhBLF5X
— Michael Paul (@mpaul_photos) March 14, 2015
Circumcision
An activist group called “Blood Stained Men and Their Friends” launched an anti-circumcision protest at SXSW Saturday, rallying against what they’re calling “forced infant circumcision.”
@frescolicense protest I came across at #sxsw pic.twitter.com/YpSWvIArNL — Ana Maria Defillo (@adefillo) March 14, 2015
More in Marketing
How Reformation hopes viral moments help it become ‘part of a cultural conversation’
Last spring after working with activist Monica Lewinsky on its “You’ve Got the Power” campaign, which featured Lewinsky, encouraged voter registration and ultimately became a viral hit, was an inflection point for the brand.
Rising ad spend fuels rapid growth of Amazon’s DSP
While advertisers increase spending in Amazon DSP, the platform still has a long way to go.
Publicis acquisition signals that creator M&A is not slowing down in 2025
Publicis on Tuesday said it plans to acquire Brazil-based influencer marketing company BR Media Group, which has access to a network of some 500,000 creators – 80% of whom are the region’s largest influencers, according to the company. Pending regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in late March 2025. Financial terms were not made available.