partisan Google???

[kid_nz]

As incredible as it sounds, I think our website has just been discriminated against by Google...

Our meager budget for advertising (or anything else, really) means that we have a hard time marketing and getting visibility. When we read about Google's 'Adwords' service, we thought it might be a great idea, and only cost as much as we could afford. When the implementation of it got too confusing (and because of how it works, got costly, too), we tried cancelling the account. We very shortly received a customer service reply saying they'd rather help us make it work than have us cancel, so we decided to give it another go. BUT....

When we submitted the site to the woman handling our account we received this reply from her:

"I am writing to let you know that the content of your website does not
comply with our advertising guidelines. I have found language on your site
that advocate against individuals, groups and promote hate or intolerance..."

Specifically, she sited the following e-cards:
'Fundamentalists' (which has a hard hitting content, but DOES NOT promote hate, etc.) and incredibly 'Spender'...and even MORE incredibly 'Loyalty'. BOTH of these last two are about as innocuous as they come.
(Sorry, links not working. They can all be found here.)

We debated whether this was, in fact, policy, or just this particular customer service person's personal agenda, but have no way of contacting a superior or confirming the voracity of her claim. (Google notoriously doesn't make it easy for anyone to contact them directly about such things).

Do you think this constitutes discrimination?? What do we do???

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Well, I use Yahoo, AskJeeves, and Earthlink to do searches.

[kid_nz]

3. and they are good...

...but of course, we were trying to get the biggest exposure for our few dollars. With Google being the leading search engine and all, it seemed like the right thing to do. But not the RIGHT thing to do, we thought...

[Warpy]

2. Contact your local ACLU chapter

Maybe you can get them to send that woman a nasty letter.

Other than that, it's a private enterprise, and content is a grey area. I think political speech may still be protected speech, though, since they don't advertise themselves as a Repuglican service.

[kid_nz]

4. that's a good place to start, I think... n/t

[rabid_nerd]

5. Al Gore is on Google's board...

That said, the Fundamentalists flash does fit their pattern.

The rule is strict. Technically, the presidential campaigns shouldn't be enabled to run ads, but they spend much much more ;)

The rest of your site is innocuous as you say, but the one flash probably did you in.

It's not worth the headache... I have ad space on DynaWeather.com I'd be willing to run your ad on my overflow inventory to see how it goes. (I have about 1000/week overflow inventory)

The only recourse, really, is to be a narc on the "other side".

Start trying to find:

A. RW ads that advocate against someone
B. RW sites that use Google Adsense Ads for revenue that advocate against someone

The established criteria is very, very responsible for them from a liability and shareholder point of view.

[Atman]

6. This is Google...they did it to me, too

It wasn't actually my ad, although that is what they first claimed. My ad was "offensive." When I asked what specifically was "offensive" in "creative, liberal-minded shirts, hats, bumper stickers and more" they wrote back that it was not actually my ad, but that there was a bumper sticker on my site they found offensive -- BUSH = LIAR. I wrote back that it was simply a statement of fact, not meant to be offensive, and offered to provide her with a list of proven Bush lies. All I got was a "we'll bill your credit card; you don't need to take any further action to cancel your account."

My ad had been active for two full months before it was cancelled, although they claim they review requests within a few days. So obviously, someone must have complained or ratted me out to them. I have stickers that say far more offensive thing than "Bush = Liar," but that is all they asked me to remove. They said that if I removed the offending sticker, I could resubmit my ad for review.

Google just sucks. All you guys using Yahoo, etc, are missing the point...Google offers a very good service at a very reasonable price that enables smaller guys to advertise right alongside the big boys. My add returned at least 3 - 4 sales a day. I've had 3 - 4 sales total since Google pulled my ads. It really, really sucks to be cut out of a market because "Bush = Liar."

[kid_nz]

7. seems kinda arbitrary...

So much for ad ranking and all that crap!

[newyawker99]

8. Hi kid_nz!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: