Two British Companies Pull Facebook Ads
August 03, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson
Vodafone and First Direct have both pulled ads from Facebook after they ended displayed on the page of the right-wing British Nationalist Party.
Two major British companies have pulled their advertising from Facebook after their ads appeared randomly on a page from the right-wing British Nationalist Party.
Both Vodafone and First Direct took the step after they were alerted to the fact that a rotation system put their ads up on the BNP’s page.
Vodafone said it had bought bundles of ads for its mobile phone service in a booking involving Facebook and other sites. That meant they had no control over where the ads went.
“As a result we were not aware that a Vodafone advertisement would appear next to a British National party group on Facebook,” said a Vodafone spokesperson. “Our public policy principles state that we do not make political donations or support particular party political interests and therefore to avoid misunderstandings we immediately withdrew our advertising as soon as this was brought to our attention.”
First Direct expressed similar reservations.
Vodafone said it would place ads with Facebook in the future, but only when “more robust controls” were in place as to where ads would appear.
The British Nationalist Party has a reputation for xenophobic and violent behaviour. However, party spokesman Phil Edwards claimed,
“There is no reason at all why anyone should avoid the BNP. There's nothing wrong with the BNP. Unfortunately the media have created a bogeyman and really the fault lies with the media, who for some reason have vilified the BNP, and it has scared these people off.”
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John on Aug 3rd, 2007 at 6:40 AM:
A bit of an odd one, this. If Vodafone bought billboard space, and someone they didn't like the look of stood next to it, what would they do then?
Random rotation advertising systems will do this now and then, I don't believe for a second the advertising agencies of these companies didn't know that.
Pressure is being placed on Facebook to remove the BNP group, perhaps, but let's not get into that boring old free-speech argument.