John Lewis pull ads from far right web forum
Lots of companies are pretty lax about where their online advertising appears – for example, if you asked John Lewis if they’d be interested in sponsoring a BNP party political broadcast, chances are John would shake his head forlornly and then look at the floor.
But online, where banner ads and Google advertising is rife, it’s harder for companies to keep track of the content of the sites where their ads appear. Unless someone points it out to them that is.
At first, the British Democracy Forum sounds like a fine-upstanding piece of internet, devoted to sensible discussions. In reality, it’s more of a rabid online slagging hole for members of the far right to dump their ‘opinions.’ A site which, until earlier this week, had John Lewis ads all over it.
Blogger Anton Vowl spotted the ads and contacted John Lewis, asking them if the British Democracy Forum was the right place for them to be associated with. Their response was swift and decisive.
Dear Mr Vowl
Thanks for your email . The advertisement has now been removed and we wont be advertising on this website in the future. We have a rigorous screening process for where our advertisements appear , but on this occasion, it would appear that this inappropriate placement has slipped through the net .We are reviewing how this happened currently .
Kind Regards
Kelly McAdden
Online Marketing
John Lewis Direct
Wonder if current advertisers on the site, including ING Direct would really be happy to be associated with the site?
Incidentally, the list of the site’s top 30 searched-for words and phrases is a treat – it includes ‘arseholes’, ‘cocksockets’, ‘cretin’, ‘hotgirl’, ‘racists’ and ‘tossers’.
Heh heh – cocksockets.
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