Yesterday I posted an article on SmallBusinessNewz about targeted ads insulting customers, in which I referenced a Washington Post story from writer Rachel Beckman.
Her story, which has been the subject of a lot of discussion around the web, is basically about targeted ads appearing to her on Facebook, calling her fat. One ad in particular suggests that she has a “muffin top.” She also cited other offending ads, but her point was that she feels insulted by some of the ads that Facebook has chosen to display to her.
Beckman’s story has gotten pretty popular on Digg, where one user comments, “Muffin top sounds better than, chick with roll of fat pouring out of her too tight pants.” Others simply just suggest ad blocking. Should you have to block all ads in order to not be insulted though? I’m not going to delve too deep into why insulting ads are in poor taste. I already wrote that article. I’ll just say the fact that they are targeted at specific people makes them a little more sensitive than if they were not personalized.
I received an interesting comment from Alan at AffiliateConfession, however, that puts a different spin on the story. He says that while insulting ads like the “muffin top” one are “far from the norm”, advertisers themselves are also unhappy with Facebook’s ad system.
Our frustration comes from trying to get ads approved these days. Facebook rejects nearly everything you throw at them unless is adheres to some very narrow criteria. Couple that with the fact that no two editors interpret guidelines the same and the Facebook Ad system turns into a joke. You can submit the exact same ads at different times of the day and have one editor disapprove it and the next one approve it.
There are even cases where advertisers spending more than $100k have had previously approved ads turned off without so much as an email or a phone call from FB. What media company in their right mind disses a $100k spender?
Alan explores this subject more in an interesting post on his blog. This is just one man’s critique however. Having never spent ad money with Facebook personally, I am curious as to whether or not others are commonly having similar problems.
