Digital Trends

 

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.”