The withdrawal of advertising support in Australia follows a similar ban started in the UK last week by giant media buying agency Havas that pulled all its clients ads. The ban, which specifically refers to problems with Google’s programmatic placement of ads, soon spread to the US and was adopted by Pepsi, Starbucks and others.
In Australia, the action was picked up and joined by Kia and Holden. Toyota, Subaru, Hyundai and Ford followed early this week. Renault withdrew its ads in the European market on the weekend.
Outside the automotive industry, and citing complaints about men’s rights and anti-feminist content, the ban was also instigated in Australia by companies including Nestle, Bunnings, JB Hi-Fi and Vodafone.
Innocean, the ad agency for Hyundai and Kia, called for an urgent meeting with Google in Australia on Monday afternoon to discuss the problem.
When contacted by GoAutoNews Premium, Kia Australia referred to its statement that said: “Programmatic advertising was suspended as soon as we were made aware of this particular incident.
“It will remain suspended until such time as we can meet with Google to further clarify the application of this type of advertising.”
Google said in a statement this week that it had begun “an extensive review” of its advertising policies.
“We have made a public commitment to put in place changes that give brands more control over where their ads appear,” it said.
“While we recognise that no system will be 100 per cent perfect, we believe these major steps will further safeguard our advertisers’ brands and we are committed to being vigilant and continuing to improve over time.”
Car companies contacted by GoAutoNews Premium refused to specify exact videos that triggered their suspension. But it is understood one had obscene language and another made reference to a female media identity as a “hag”.
Google has inbuilt protection against “black” words but it appears some have been missed or that their use was not picked up in time.
GM Holden confirmed it had pulled advertising saying in a statement that it was investigating how it was linked to the inappropriate video content.
“Holden in no way supports the content our advertising has been inadvertently associated with,” it said.
“We value our good relationship with Google but in line with General Motors’ global response and Holden’s diversity stance we have instructed our media agency to suspend all advertising on YouTube until we are confident Google can protect our brand from offensive content. We’ll work with Google to achieve this.”
In response to questions by GoAutoNews Premium, major car companies this week said:
“We have currently paused our video and display advertising across the Google network,” Toyota Australia said.
“We are now working with Google to ensure there is adequate protection for our brand before we continue any further advertising.”
Audi Australia general manager of corporate communications Anna Burgdorf said: “At this stage we do not intend to withdraw from YouTube advertising and although we have been closely following the topic recently, the risks have been on the radar for some time”.
“As a brand, we focus on ensuring there are numerous safeguard layers in place to mitigate risk with our advertising placements. These include but are not restricted to digital content labels/restrictions to sensitive subject exclusions, topic and category exclusions and a channel watchlist.”
Ford Australia said “we have paused Ford advertising on YouTube as we work closely with Google on improvements to ensure our ads show up in environments appropriate for our brand”.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said it was now not advertising on YouTube and its media agency was monitoring the situation.
Subaru Australia said, “we are withdrawing our YouTube activity until further notice and will await any other protective measures from Google”.
Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific also said it was monitoring its advertising on YouTube and Mazda said it was under review and was considering its position.
Honda Australia said it and its media agency were focused on stringent brand safety measures and that it had “robust processes to mitigate the risk of ads being served to sites with questionable content”. It said it would continue to monitor the situation.
Nissan Australia said it was working with its technology partners “to ensure this matter does not affect its current digital marketing programs”.
By Neil Dowling
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