AT&T and Johnson & Johnson, among the biggest advertisers in the United States, were among several companies to say on Wednesday that they would stop their ads from running on YouTube and other Google properties amid concern that Google is not doing enough to prevent brands from appearing next to offensive material, like hate speech.
The companies made the moves, which did not extend to Google’s search ads, amid boycotts of YouTube by several European advertisers that began in the last week.
On Tuesday, Google had outlined steps it would take to stop ads from running next to “hateful, offensive and derogatory content” on YouTube and websites in its display network. While Google pledged to improve, brands wanted to hear there would be zero risk that their ads would appear near content promoting things like terrorism, said Brian Wieser, a media industry analyst at Pivotal Research.
“They’re saying they’re trying harder — that’s insufficient,” Wieser said of Google. “They don’t seem to understand the scale of the perceived problem.”
Google has been under siege in Europe in the last week after reports that brands’ advertising appeared next to extremist material and other offensive content on YouTube and some of the roughly two million sites in Google’s display network.
The company has defended itself by noting that it prevents ads, which are placed on websites automatically, from running near inappropriate material “in the vast majority of cases.” It also said it added thousands of sites to its ad network every day, as well as 400 hours of video to YouTube every minute.
Still, several advertisers, seeking more accountability, have pulled some of their ad spending. They include the British government, The Guardian, the pharmaceutical company GSK and the French advertising multinational Havas.
Now, the issue is taking hold with American advertisers, with the car rental company Enterprise announcing a temporary halt of spending on YouTube on Wednesday. Verizon, while it did not mention Google or YouTube by name, said Wednesday that it would suspend “all digital nonsearch advertising inventory” after learning its ads “were appearing on non-sanctioned websites,” which presumably included ads on YouTube and websites in Google’s ad network.
AT&T said in its statement: “We are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate. Until Google can ensure this won’t happen again, we are removing our ads from Google’s non-search platforms.”
Johnson & Johnson said it “has decided to pause all YouTube digital advertising globally to ensure our product advertising does not appear on channels that promote offensive content.” The company added, “We take this matter very seriously and will continue to take every measure to ensure our brand advertising is consistent with our brand values.”
©2017 The New York Times News Service