Google Ad Crisis Spreads as Biggest Marketers Halt Spending
- U.K. backlash against offensive YouTube content goes global
- J&J, Verizon among largest ad spenders to join boycott
Google's Ad Crisis Expands Beyond the U.K.
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Google’s advertising crisis went global after some of the biggest marketers including AT&T Inc. and Johnson & Johnson halted spending on YouTube and the internet company’s display network, citing concern their ads would run alongside offensive videos.
The controversy erupted last week after the London-based Times newspaper reported that some ads were running with YouTube videos that promoted terrorism or anti-Semitism. The U.K. government and the Guardian newspaper took down ads from the video site and Havas SA, the world’s sixth-largest advertising and marketing company, pulled its U.K. clients’ ads from Google’s display ad network and YouTube.