14 DAY TRIAL // Google is in deep water with advertisers over badly placed ads. There's currently a wide-scale boycott against the company.
Following reports that ads were appearing on YouTube videos from terrorists and hate-mongers, ad companies started pulling their content. Numerous British brands and governmental groups halted their collaboration with Google, amounting to many, many millions in business.
This past weekend, several other companies have joined the boycott, including Lloyds, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, three of the largest British banks.
In a sudden reminder that Google is mostly an ad-company itself since most of its revenue comes from this one source, Alphabet Inc's stock was downgraded from "buy" to "hold" on Monday due to the scandal. During trading hours, Alphabet's stock didn't seem to be too affected by the change or the scandal, but if things continue, chances are the prices will start dropping.
"We think that the problems which have come to light will have global repercussions as UK marketers potentially adapt their UK policies to other markets and as marketers around the world become more aware of the problem," wrote ad industry analyst Brian Wieser.
"Sorry" doesn't cut it
The problem, as mentioned, is that Google has automated its entire process. Given the size of the company and the size of the business it runs, it makes sense. What does not make sense is the lack of some type of filtering. Ads for major brands were being placed on videos of David Duke, the former KKK leader, homophobic preachers praising the Orlando nightclub shooting, Islamic State sympathizers, and so on.
While this was mostly noticed in the UK, the problem may be a bit more global. In fact, Google's chief of European operations, Matt Brittin, admitted during a conference held on Monday that there was a global scope to the issue.
Google also conceded this was a problem and that they were to blame, offering apologies. The problem is that in instances such as this one, people want results, not excuses.