Facebook advertisers pulled out their ads after an anti-sexism campaign drew attention to Facebook pages that contained posts promoting violence against women. Last week, Women, Action and the Media launched and spread a campaign for the social network to remove hate speech and sexist comments against women.

The campaign organizers also encouraged advertisers to support their cause and remove their ads from Facebook. The content included pages with horrifying photos of rape. Other pictures were also posted with themes promoting abuse, rape and violence against women. One notable photo was of a woman lying at the bottom of the stairs with the caption, "Next time don't get pregnant."

Facebook's Vice President of Global Public Policy Marne Levine acknowledges that the social network's policies and guidelines are not perfect. Facebook is currently working on improving its guidelines to discourage sexist behavior.

Advertisers on Facebook received around 5000 emails to elicit support. Supporters on Twitter expressed their opinion over the issue with more than 60,000 posts. According to Women, Action and the Media, had convinced 15 companies to pull out their ads including Nissan and Zipcar. Some company ads were shown with the Facebook pages with less than appealing content. Advertisers were not aware about the issue until they were informed of the campaign. However after hearing about Facebook's move to address the issue, the two companies will resume their ads when certain changes are done.

Facebook recognizes the need for change since its systems failed to identify or delete hate speech in the pages of the social network. The company is currently reviewing guidelines and is taking the necessary steps to improve the system. Facebook also declared the company is willing to cooperate with women's support groups.

Executive Director Jaclyn Friedman of Women, Action and Media is thrilled about Facebook's response to their campaign. Friedman praises Facebook for making a commitment to stop hate speech against women in social media.