I am writing to you about the ads Heinz put on a sexually graphic video website. When mainstream companies normalize or partner with the pornography industry they tacitly endorse and fund the sexually exploitive content and messages that the pornography industry produces. Luckily, Unilever has now committed to never advertise on Pornhub again. A spokesman said that some content on Pornhub that was revealed to them was “deeply troubling and we will ensure that none of our brands advertise on Pornhub again, or on any other porn site." This is a socially responsible response that recognizes the misstep and the harmful nature of the content it normalized. On the other hand, KraftHeinz is justifying their ad choices. Kraft Heinz's director Nigel Dickie has stated that "The DEVOUR frozen food brand, which is only sold in the US, had a one-day promotion solely as part of the brand's Super Bowl activation. The brand was explicitly talking about #Foodporn, which has become a cultural phenomenon on Instagram." It's time for KraftHeinz to stop making excuses and to acknowledge the harms of partnering with the pornography industry. Anything less is an affront to their supposedly "family-friendly" brand and an insult to survivors of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

I heard about the ads for Devour that Heinz placed on an "adult" website. Did you know that recently over 50 sexually graphic videos documenting the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl who had been missing for a year recently appeared on that same website? The reality is that this sexually graphic website has not, and never will, kept sex trafficking and child abuse off of its website. Experts from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation report that when speaking with sex trafficking survivors, and reviewing online forums where sex buyers talk to each other, it has become clear that many prostituted and sex trafficked persons have videos of their sexual exploitation uploaded onto mainstream pornography sites regularly, by sex buyers, pimps, or traffickers. Please make a public statement committing to never sell ads on any sexually graphic website again. Otherwise your brand is associated with sexual exploitation and has lost my respect.

Your company ran ads on a sexually exploitive website, Pornhub, which normalizes themes of racism, incest, and violence against women. Not only is pornography linked to a myriad of public health harms, including sexual dysfunctions and mental health problems, but it also frequently portrays and encourages sexual violence against women. For example, today on Pornhub's front page are sexually graphic videos with themes of "amateur teen" and "step" family members (aka incest themes) and women being "sexually broken" by men who are using their bodies. Please stand against this misogyny - make a strong stance against this harmful industry.

As you know, Heinz ran an advertisement by taking over the homepage of a pornography website for an entire day and running a "#FoodPorn" campaign for its Devour frozen meal products. Did you know that likely sex-trafficking victims and victims of child sexual abuse have recently been found on this "mainstream" pornography website? Recently, a pornography company owner and director were charged by the federal government with sex trafficking 22 young women by force, fraud, and coercion. These young women state that the men lied to them and said that if they made pornography with him it would only be sold in overseas in limited quantities when in actuality the videos were uploaded to the Internet and ended up on PornHub. These women say they were “manipulated into signing contracts,” sometimes while “under the influence of alcohol” or “while being bullied by men in the hotel rooms where the scenes would take place,” Motherboard reported. They also state that their release agreements had missing terms, and staff members would rush them into signing the paperwork anyway. Some of the videos posted on Pornhub were viewed more than 40 million times, and the channel became the 20th most popular channel on the site. You need to make a public statement and commit to no longer partnering with this exploitive company.

Both Heinz and Unilever hosted ads on Pornhub but your company failed to properly distance yourself from this exploitive company. Unilever has now committed to never advertise on Pornhub again. A spokesman said that some content on Pornhub that was revealed to them was “deeply troubling and we will ensure that none of our brands advertise on Pornhub again, or on any other porn site." This is a socially responsible response that recognizes the misstep and the harmful nature of the content it normalized. On the other hand, KraftHeinz is justifying their ad choices. Kraft Heinz's director Nigel Dickie has stated that "The DEVOUR frozen food brand, which is only sold in the US, had a one-day promotion solely as part of the brand's Super Bowl activation. The brand was explicitly talking about #Foodporn, which has become a cultural phenomenon on Instagram." This statement is not merely apathetic to the sexually exploitive themes and content on Pornhub. It is a rationalization and a justification of a business deal that gave money to support a platform profiting off of sex trafficking, child abuse, and themes of incest, racism, and violence against women. It's time for KraftHeinz to stop making excuses and to acknowledge the harms of partnering with the pornography industry. Anything less is an affront to their supposedly "family-friendly" brand and an insult to survivors of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.