Money has been spent, budgets committed, etc. Think of it like steering a large ship. You may turn the wheel immediately, but the ship will take time to adjust it's course.
Often there are contracts. Sometimes for a very long time, often multi-year. There are sometimes escape clauses (like a morality clause for a spokesperson), but these aren't easy to invoke.
I suspect many of them are up for annual review/renewal, when they can be terminated without penalty. It might also just be an attempt to get better terms.
Only 4% of marketers overall think X ads provide “brand safety” — certainty that their ads won’t appear alongside extreme content —
The 4% may represent lumpy pillow manufacturers, sellers of freeze dried survival food, random cryptocurrency products, and Trump 2024 flag/tshirt providers.
The spokesperson added that X’s “brand safety rate is on average 99%, as validated by DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science,” companies that analyze the value of digital advertising placements.
"But that 1% remaining will have your products featured next to ads denying the holocaust, hate speech against LGBTQ+ communities, and ads discrediting proven science in favor of, oh I don't know, phrenology or something" -the spokesperson probably
If Nike is one of these planning to withdrawal advertising with them I'll be very disappointed. They need to just do it.
Sounds like they are trying to double dip by still using it as an ad platform but saying they are working on backing out but also appealing to people that hate bigoted idiots as well.
Knowing nothing about marketing, I figured that after threatening to sue his advertisers there would have been a full-stop on incoming customers and, at the least, a spending level freeze by existing customers.