While you are jamming out to music or watching your favorite show, you might suddenly hear a dystopian voice during an ad break: Are you ready to “join the mission to protect America” from undocumented immigrants who are “predators” and “dangerous illegals”?
This fear-mongering language about immigrants is part of many Immigration and Customs Enforcement recruitment ads being aired on your favorite streaming platforms –– and it’s causing users like Caroline Eddy to boycott what they once used every day.
Eddy, a New Jersey-based graduate student, used to listen to hours of music every day on her Spotify paid subscription. Over the years, she has made 30 playlists for her kids, for a good cry, and even for her wedding day, on the platform.
But once she heard that Spotify was running Immigration and Customs Enforcement recruitment ads referencing undocumented immigrants as “dangerous illegals,” it was an immediate “no-brainer” decision, she said. As a paying subscriber, she doesn’t hear ads, but she still canceled her Spotfiy subscription immediately: “It was just like, ‘Oh, too bad, fuck you guys, I’m out.’”
Eddy, who is Mexican American, said this nation is run by immigrants, and that this ad feels like “propaganda just catered to people that are not us.”
