Ad boycott prompts policy shift by Google
Google has announced changes to its advertising policies after major brands pulled ads from its services because they appeared alongside offensive content, such as videos promoting terrorism or anti-Semitism.
The Mountain View company said in a blog post Friday that it would give clients more control over where their ads appear on both YouTube, the video-sharing service it owns, and the Google Display Network, which posts advertising to third-party websites and on search results.
The announcement came after the British government and the Guardian newspaper pulled ads from the video site, stepping up pressure on YouTube to police content.
French advertising and marketing company Havas pulled all its British clients’ ads from Google and YouTube on Friday after failing to get assurances from Google that
the ads wouldn’t appear next to offensive material. Those clients include wireless carrier O2, Royal Mail, British Broadcasting Corp., Domino’s Pizza and Hyundai Kia, Havas said.
“We have a duty of care to our clients ... to position their brands in the right context where we can be assured that that environment is safe, regulated to the degree necessary and additive to their brands’ objectives,” said Paul Framphon, CEO and country manager for Havas in Britain. “Our position will remain until we are confident in the YouTube platform and Google Display Network’s ability to deliver the standards we and our clients expect.”
The decision to pull ads from Google followed a Times of London investigation that revealed ads from many large companies and the British government appeared alongside content from the likes of white nationalist David Duke and pastor Steven Anderson, who praised the killing of 49 people in a gay nightclub.
Google made $7.8 billion in advertising revenue in the United Kingdom in 2016, accounting for 8.6 percent of the company’s total sales.
The boycott signals a growing backlash against programs that automate the buying and selling of advertising online, and social media providers that are seen to not be doing enough to tackle hate disseminated on their platforms.
Media-buying firms are also increasingly resentful of the power wielded by Google and Facebook, claiming the two companies operate a global duopoly over online advertising. The controversy about ads appearing in inappropriate contexts may give these media buyers leverage in negotiations with the companies.
Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of WPP, the global advertising firm, said in a statement that Google and Facebook have “the same responsibilities as any media company” and could not “masquerade” as mere technology platforms.
He said WPP’s GroupM, a major ad buyer, was talking to Google “at the highest levels to encourage them to find answers to these brand safety issues.”
Ronan Harris, Google’s managing director in Britain, said in the blog post that Google removed nearly 2 billion offensive ads last year and blacklisted 100,000 publishers from the company’s Ad Sense program. Despite this, Harris wrote, “We don’t always get it right.”
Harris said Google had “heard from our advertisers loud and clear that we can provide simpler, more robust ways to stop their ads from showing against controversial content.”
The company will now review its policies and said it would be making changes “in the coming weeks” to help customers stop their ads from appearing on objectionable websites or with offensive videos, Harris said.
Ads appeared “next to extremist and hate-filled videos,” prompting Guardian News & Media to stop all advertising through YouTube and its parent company Google, the British publisher said in an email Friday. The government said it suspended advertising on YouTube until the site can ensure the ads are not placed next to content it doesn’t approve of.
“Google is responsible for ensuring the high standards applied to government advertising are adhered to and that adverts do not appear alongside inappropriate content,” the government said in an email. “We have placed a temporary restriction on our YouTube advertising pending reassurances from Google that government messages can be delivered in a safe and appropriate way.”