Facebook seeks to end ad clash with "safe, easy fix"

 

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By Dave Stevenson

Posted on 9 Aug 2007 at 17:18

Facebook has taken steps to allow companies to ensure their adverts don't appear near objectionable content, in a bid to retrieve those who pulled ads which appeared on the offical page for the British National Party.

Facebook's chief operating officer Owen Van Natta claimed the "safe, easy, fix" will allow advertisers to avoid their content appearing in the Groups section of Facebook. "Fundamentally we want to make sure that we give advertisers the same controls as users," he said in an interview with the Media Guardian.

Advertisers including First Direct, Virgin Media and the UK government's Central Office of Information all pulled ads, but so far, none has confirmed a return to Facebook, despite Van Natta's assurances. A spokesperson for First Direct said "Facebook hasn't been in contact with First Direct at all," adding, "we would take a steer from our media buyers with regard to whether we felt it was a good time to re-enter advertising with social networks. Until we get a more solid feel from our media buyers we won't be advertising with social networks."

A spokesperson for the COI, who refused to be named, said "we're going to be in discussions with Facebook", but declined to say whether the government agency intended to return its ads.

The AA didn't promise a return to the site, either, with a spokesman saying that the company was waiting on word from its media buyer. The media buyer for both the AA and the COI is i-level. A spokesperson for the company said "we're talking to our clients. It hasn't been the case that all of them have been pulling their ads." They added that they were working with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (the IPA) "to look at the industry as a whole."

Vodafone said that its media buyer, OMD, has "received a communication from Facebook", but didn't comment on when, or if, its ads would make a comeback.

Facebook has not accused the BNP of breaking its terms of use.