Category Archives: Advertising

‘Dirty methods’ in Brexit vote cited in push for new laws on Europe’s elections

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Sites such as Facebook will have to publicly disclose identity of people and entities funding such advertising

The “dirty methods” of the Brexit referendum have been cited as a reason for new EU laws aimed at tackling disinformation and forcing online platforms including Facebook to publicly disclose the identity of people and entities funding political adverts.

Věra Jourová, a vice president of the European commission, said the EU rule-book needed to be updated to deal with on-line political campaigning, as she unveiled draft legislation at a press conference in Brussels.

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UK supermarkets unite after Sainsbury’s advert prompts racist backlash

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Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose run ads back-to-back on Channel 4

A group of leading UK supermarkets have joined together to take a stand against a racist online backlash that followed Sainsbury’s Christmas advertisement featuring a black family.

Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose ran their adverts back-to-back during two primetime slots on Channel 4 on Friday evening, with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism. Normally, competitors actively avoid airing their ads close together.

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US justice department sues Google over accusation of illegal monopoly

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Lawsuit accuse tech company of abusing its position to dominate search and search advertising

The US justice department filed a lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, accusing the tech company of abusing its position to maintain an illegal monopoly over search and search advertising.

“Two decades ago, Google became the darling of Silicon Valley as a scrappy startup with an innovative way to search the emerging internet. That Google is long gone,” the suit alleged.

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Jo Malone apologises to John Boyega for cutting him out of Chinese ad

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Perfume brand admits reshooting commercial without Star Wars actor was ‘misstep’

Perfume brand Jo Malone has apologised to the actor John Boyega for cutting him out of an advert he conceived, directed and starred in when it was launched in China.

Boyega was replaced by Liu Haoran after the commercial was recast and reshot for the Chinese market. The original advert, London Gent, which was released last year, featured Boyega walking around Peckham, south London, riding a horse, dancing with friends and hanging out with his family. The original cast was multicultural, while the Chinese remake featured no black cast members.

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MSF ran ‘white saviour’ TV ad despite staff warnings over racism

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Decision to show then withdraw video sparked crisis at MSF Canada, says review

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) broadcast a $400,000 (£307,000) TV fundraising campaign in Canada despite warnings from staff that it was exploitative, reinforced racist “white saviour” stereotypes and breached the medical charity’s ethical guidelines, the Guardian has learned.

A damning review of the decision to run and later withdraw the advert, which featured the REM track Everybody Hurts played over images of crying black children being treated by MSF medics, concluded it exposed a lack of trust in leadership and triggered an “organisational crisis” at MSF Canada.

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‘Hands. Face. Space’: UK government to relaunch Covid-19 slogan

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Ad campaign promoting hygiene and social distancing will run across TV, radio, print and more

A new government campaign is being launched to remind people to wash their hands, cover their faces and keep their distance, in a bid to keep infections down as the winter months approach.

With the slogan “Hands. Face. Space”, advertising will run across TV, radio, print, social and digital display advertising, as well as on community media channels, the Department of Health and Social Care has said.

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Chief rabbi accuses Facebook and Twitter of complicity in antisemitism

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Ephraim Mirvis joins 48-hour boycott after grime musician Wiley’s antisemitic tirade

The UK’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, has accused Facebook and Twitter of complicity in antisemitism through inaction as he urged both platforms to do more to tackle hate speech after an antisemitic tirade last week from the grime musician Wiley.

In a letter to the technology companies’ chief executives, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Mirvis said “the woeful lack of responsible leadership … cannot be allowed to stand.

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Extend US Facebook boycott to Europe, campaigners urge

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Calls follow Mark Zuckerberg’s dismissal of anti-hate-speech campaign in meeting with staff

Campaigners are calling for an advertising boycott of Facebook in the US to be extended to Europe, after its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, dismissed the effects of the campaign in a meeting with staff.

A growing number of companies have halted advertising on Facebook after criticism that the platform was not doing enough to counter hate speech on its sites.

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France bans Dutch bike TV ad for creating ‘climate of fear’ about cars

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Ad for VanMoof bike unfairly discredits automobile industry, says watchdog

A TV commercial for a Dutch-made bicycle has been banned by France’s advertising watchdog for creating a “climate of fear” about cars.

Despite being aired on Dutch and German television, the Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP) said the ad for the VanMoof bike unfairly discredited the automobile industry.

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Third of advertisers may boycott Facebook in hate speech revolt

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‘Stop Hate for Profit’ campaign gathers momentum as ad boycott spreads outside US

Almost a third of advertisers are considering joining a month-long boycott of Facebook as the social network struggles to convince advertisers that it is doing enough to fight hate speech on its platform.

The unprecedented corporate snub has been revealed in survey by the World Federation of Advertisers, whose big-spending members control nearly $100bn (£81bn) in spending.

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How hate speech campaigners found Facebook’s weak spot

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The social network’s crisis has been a long time in the making and shows no sign of going away

It took less than two hours for Facebook to react and it did so for good reason.

At 5pm on Friday, Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers, with a portfolio of products that ranges from Marmite to Vaseline, suddenly announced it was pulling all adverts from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the US.

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Exclusive: Viber severs ties with Facebook in growing boycott

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Service adds to firms shunning Facebook over refusal to act against Donald Trump posts

The messaging service Viber, the fifth biggest with more than a billion users around the world, is severing all ties to Facebook as part of a growing boycott of the company by commercial partners.

The campaign, initially started in the US after Facebook’s refusal to take action against posts from Donald Trump which critics said incited violence, has now grown to become an international movement.

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Lord Sugar tweet broke UK advertising rules, says watchdog

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The Apprentice host is partner in firm whose teeth-whitening product he recommended

A tweet by Lord Sugar promoting a company set up by a winner of The Apprentice has broken the UK advertising rules.

In December, the 73-year-old host of the BBC television show posted a tweet encouraging people to buy a teeth whitening package as the “perfect Xmas gift”.

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Google reports weak revenue growth in first pandemic-affected quarter

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Alphabet first-quarter earnings offer a glimpse of how the digital ad market has fared amid stay-at-home orders

Google reported its weakest revenue growth in nearly five years in the first quarter as the pandemic-driven recession began to shrivel its advertising sales.

“It was the tale of two quarters,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, told investors on a conference call on Tuesday. Typically – strong revenue growth in January and February was undercut by a “significant and sudden slowdown in advertising” in March, he said. “When I last spoke with you, no one could have imagined how much the world would change – and how quickly.”

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Facebook and Google to be forced to share advertising revenue with Australian media companies

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Mandatory code being developed by ACCC will create ‘level playing field’ in media landscape, Josh Frydenberg says

Facebook and Google will be forced to share advertising revenue with Australian media companies after the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, instructed the competition watchdog to develop a mandatory code of conduct for the digital giants amid a steep decline in advertising brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

In its response to the landmark digital platforms inquiry in December, the federal government asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to develop a code between media companies and digital platforms including Google and Facebook.

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British American Tobacco circumventing ad ban, experts say

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BAT seems to be running accounts to promote e-cigarettes after crackdown on hiring influencers

British American Tobacco (BAT) is marketing e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes with pictures of attractive models and using hashtags such as “I dare you to try it”, despite a crackdown last year after it paid social media influencers to promote its products.

BAT had come under fire after hiring young models to sell its products despite having an explicit policy banning under-25s from appearing in adverts.

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Meet Dainty Duck: the loo cleaner with a feminine touch

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Household brands’ mascots have undergone a makeover ahead of International Women’s Day

He’s the jolly bearded Father Christmas lookalike who for decades has dominated the seas – and our TV screens – as the familiar face of Birds Eye frozen fish fingers.

But with a handful of fellow male advertising mascots Captain Birds Eye has been temporarily elbowed aside – and replaced with a more youthful female equivalent – in a new drive to highlight the lack of women fronting some of the UK’s top household brands.

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UK army ‘years off’ full strength despite recruitment drive

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Successful Snowflake campaign has helped military hit annual target for first time in six years

Army recruiters have conceded it will take several years to get the British army near to full strength despite the perceived success of its Snowflake ad campaign, which has helped it to reach its annual target for the first time in six years.

Enlisting had collapsed after recruitment was part-privatised in 2012 when Capita partnered the army but new figures showed that 99% of the year’s 9,440 target had been signed up with seven weeks to go.

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Guardian to ban advertising from fossil fuel firms

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Move follows efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase reporting on climate crisis

The Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels.

The move, which follows efforts to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and increase reporting on the climate emergency, was announced on Wednesday and will be implemented with immediate effect. The ban will apply to any business primarily involved in extracting fossil fuels, including many of the world’s largest polluters.

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