Category Archives: Advertising

YouTube ads of 100 top brands fund climate misinformation – study

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Avaaz says firms are unaware commercials being played alongside misleading videos

Some of the biggest companies in the world are funding climate misinformation by advertising on YouTube, according to a study from activist group Avaaz.

The group found that more than 100 brands had adverts running on YouTube videos on the site that were actively promoting climate misinformation. The brands, including Samsung, L’Oreal and Decathlon, were unaware that their adverts were being played before and during the videos.

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Kylie Minogue tries to lure Brexit-weary Britons in new Tourism Australia ad ‘Matesong’

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Pop star reprises Neighbours character in a song that also includes tennis star Ash Barty, comedian Adam Hills and former cricketer Shane Warne

A new $15m tourism campaign featuring Kylie Minogue is aiming to lure Brexit-weary Britons to Australia with the perennial promise of cute marsupials, white-sand beaches and locals who “speak your language”.

The three-minute musical advertisement aired on televisions in the UK before the Queen’s message on Christmas Day, with Minogue and another well-known Australian export, Adam Hills, addressing the nation from Sandringham – a beachside suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

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Twitter political ad ban could silence climate activists, warns Warren

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US presidential hopeful says fossil fuel firms will be free to promote themselves while critics are barred

Twitter’s plan to ban all political advertising risked muzzling climate activists while giving polluters free rein to promote themselves, the US presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said.

“Twitter’s new ad policy will allow fossil fuel companies to buy ads defending themselves and spreading misleading info but won’t allow organisations fighting the climate crisis to buy ads holding those companies accountable,” she tweeted, linking to an environmental newsletter.

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McDonald’s Portugal apologises for ‘Sundae Bloody Sundae’ ads

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Halloween promotion was not intended to be ‘insensitive reference’ to historical events

McDonald’s in Portugal has apologised for using the slogan “Sundae Bloody Sundae” in a Halloween campaign for its ice-cream puddings.

It appears the chain decided to celebrate the spooky season with a two-for-one offer on the strawberry dessert and a nod to the early U2 song Sunday Bloody Sunday.

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Beautiful one day, pitiful the next: is ‘philausophy’ a new low for Australian tourism ads?

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As the concept of philausophy is unleashed on an unsuspecting world, please share your views on the good, the bad and the frankly odd campaigns in Australian tourism history

The word “philausophy” did not exist until Wednesday and, depending on its reception, may not exist for much longer.

The latest international campaign from Tourism Australia has landed, with its awkward, crow-barred pun already dividing audiences in the same way that it inelegantly divides the word “philosophy” itself.

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Led by Donkeys show their faces at last: ‘No one knew it was us’

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The four men behind the nationwide Brexit billboard phenomenon finally reveal their identities – in the pub where it all began

The Birdcage pub in Stoke Newington, north London, seems an unlikely birthplace for a rebellion. On a midweek afternoon, the bar is almost empty. Spring sunshine streams through the windows; Spandau Ballet provide a gentle soundtrack; black-hatted men from the local ultra-Orthodox Jewish community pass by outside.

The only customers are four men sitting at a table in an alcove. It was at this spot, more than five months ago, that this group of friends came up with an idea born from their collective despair over the “lies, lunacy and hypocrisy” of the Brexit process.

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Google has given $150,000 in free ads to deceptive anti-abortion group

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Obria Group’s ads suggest it provides abortion services, when in fact it tries to persuade women not to terminate pregnancies

Google has given tens of thousands of dollars in free advertising to an anti-abortion group that runs ads suggesting it provides abortion services at its medical clinics, but actually seeks to deter “abortion-minded women” from terminating their pregnancies.

Related: Abortion: judge strikes down Kentucky restriction but governor to appeal

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Ancestry pulls ad that appears to romanticize slavery after backlash

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In the genealogy company’s commercial, a white man gives a black woman a ring and says they can ‘escape to the north’

Ancestry.ca, the Canadian outpost of the genealogy site Ancestry.com, has taken down an ad that was criticized for appearing to romanticize slavery. It was deemed an irresponsible retelling of an already reprehensible history.

ooooh my god LMAOOO who approved this ancestry commercial??? pic.twitter.com/Isy0k4HTMA

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Camera firm distances itself from Tiananmen Square advert

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Leica, whose biggest growth market is China, say short film was not officially sanctioned

Western companies trying to do business in China learned long ago that they must bow, at least in part, to the political demands of an authoritarian state. So when the German camera-maker Leica released an advert featuring perhaps the greatest political taboo in contemporary Chinese history, it looked like an unusually audacious gamble.

In fact the short film referencing the Tiananmen Square crackdown appears to have been an extraordinary – and potentially very expensive – mistake.

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Toyota distances itself from Liberal ads falsely claiming Labor wants to tax cars

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The ads use Facebook functionality to target users with an interest in particular car brands, including Toyota Hilux utes

Toyota has said that it was not consulted on a Liberal party campaign that uses targeted Facebook ads to falsely claim Bill Shorten wants to tax popular car brands including the Toyota Hilux and other utility vehicles.

“Toyota Australia were not consulted on the use of the HiLux in government materials.”

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Obscure no-deal Brexit group is UK’s biggest political spender on Facebook

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Britain’s Future has spent £340,000 promoting hard exit – but no one knows who’s funding it

The single biggest known British political advertiser on Facebook is a mysterious pro-Brexit campaign group pushing for a no-deal exit from the EU. The revelation about Britain’s Future, which has never disclosed the source of its funding or organisational structure, has raised concerns about the influence of “dark money” in British politics.

The little-known campaign group has spent more than £340,000 on Facebook adverts backing a hard Brexit since the social network began publishing lists of political advertisers last October, making it a bigger spender than every UK political party and the government combined.

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Fortnite maker pulls ads over YouTube ‘paedophile ring’ claims

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Epic Games joins Nestlé in abandoning video site over comments section scandal

The maker of Fortnite has pulled adverts from YouTube amid concerns that promotions for the video game, which is popular with children, were appearing alongside comments posted by paedophiles.

Epic Games confirmed it had withdrawn its adverts from the Google-owned site, joining Nestlé in temporarily abandoning it due to the latest scandal over inappropriate content.

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Revealed: Facebook enables ads to target users interested in ‘vaccine controversies’

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Social media platforms under pressure by US congressman to crack down on anti-vaccine propaganda, citing Guardian investigations

Facebook enables advertisers to promote content to nearly 900,000 people interested in “vaccine controversies”, the Guardian has found.

Other groups of people that advertisers can pay to reach on Facebook include those interested in “Dr Tenpenny on Vaccines”, which refers to anti-vaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny, and “informed consent”, which is language that anti-vaccine propagandists have adopted to fight vaccination laws.

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Celebrity social media influencers pledge to change way they post

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Clampdown on stars being paid for endorsing products without disclosing firm rewards them

More than a dozen celebrities, including Alexa Chung and Ellie Goulding, have pledged to change the way they label social media posts after Britain’s competition watchdog clamped down on the practice of stars being paid for endorsing products without disclosing they were being rewarded by the company.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had secured formal commitments from 16 celebrities to state clearly if they have been paid or received any gifts or loans of products which they endorse.

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Vintage ski posters – in pictures

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A collection of vintage ski and winter sports posters up to a century old – some worth thousands of dollars – is about to be auctioned in New York. The resorts advertised range from Europe’s Alpine jewels to the mountains of Canada, and all offer fun in the outdoors

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APNewsBreak: Firm worked for Cordray’s agency, then campaign Source: AP

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An advertising and media firm to which Ohio gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray's agency gave government work while he was a federal official now is doing political work for him. Records reviewed by The Associated Press show Washington-based GMMB recently has been making Ohio ad buys for Democrat Cordray's gubernatorial campaign against Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine.

Social justice movement veterans help Poor People’s Campaign

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In this photo taken Wednesday, June 6, 2018 civil rights attorney Al McSurely sits for an interview at his home in Carthage, N.C. As the Poor People's Campaign launches a massive initiative to sign up people to support the mov... . In this photo taken Wednesday, June 6, 2018 civil rights attorney Al McSurely and his wife O'Linda Williams sit together in the kitchen of their home in Carthage, N.C. As the Poor People's Campaign launches a massive initiativ... CARTHAGE, N.C. - As the Poor People's Campaign launches a new initiative, its charismatic leader is working with the generation of civil rights leaders who stood by the Rev.

Heng claims victory as Facebook allows ad depicting Cambodian genocide

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Fresno native Elizabeth Heng announcing her run for Congress, against Jim Costa, talks about long-overdue changes in the Central Valley that she envisions happening, while visiting her family's Rasmey Market, where she worked as a child. Elizabeth Heng, the Fresno Republican challenging Rep. Jim Costa in the 16th District, scored a victory Tuesday after blasting Facebook for refusing to approve a campaign ad that featured footage from the Cambodian genocide.

White House Bars CNN Reporter From Presidential Event

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The White House barred a CNN journalist from attending a public appearance by President Trump in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, an apparent act of retaliation that drew immediate rebuke from news organizations and signaled the latest escalation of Mr. Trump's hostilities toward the news media. Kaitlan Collins, a White House correspondent for CNN, said she was called into the West Wing and chastised by administration officials for what they deemed "inappropriate" questions that she had asked of Mr. Trump during an Oval Office photo opportunity earlier in the day.