Investors push Home Depot and Omnicom to avoid ad misinformation



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Businesses have struggled in recent years to reach potential customers while ensuring their online ads don’t appear near questionable, salacious, or potentially harmful content. AARP, which was mentioned in the NewsGuard report as one of the companies that placed ads on sites promoting false election statements, said that despite rigorous monitoring procedures, some ads fell through the cracks of the net.

“We follow strict ad placement protocols, but no system is 100% foolproof,” Martha Boudreau, executive vice president of AARP, said in a statement.

An internal review of the AARP found that a “tiny fraction” of its ads, less than 1 / 100th of 1 percent, appeared on sites reported by NewsGuard, Boudreau added.

Matt Skibinski, chief executive of NewsGuard, said companies should treat sites that publish disinformation the same way they treat sites that promote behavior that is not aligned with their corporate values ​​or that publish. content they don’t want to be associated with.

“In many brands there is someone whose job it is to make sure that they don’t place ads in what they would call unsafe or inappropriate environments, and that includes violence, pornography and gambling. by chance, ”said Skibinski. “We need the industry to start seeing misinformation in this category – creating damage in the real world.”

NewsGuard reported that advertisements from Procter & Gamble appeared on The Gateway Pundit, one of the sites it called to publish misleading information about the election. In an email, Procter & Gamble said it did not intentionally advertise on the site. Erica Noble, a spokesperson for Procter & Gamble, said that when the company’s ads are placed on a site that does not meet its standards, it acts quickly to remove them.

“These are all standards that were in place long before the horrific events of January 6, but we appreciate that they are taking on renewed importance now,” she said.

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