Misinforming Ads

 

Whenever you watch a YouTube video the chances of seeing an advertisement are very high. Sometimes there can even be 3 per video. There's ads that promote games like Raid Shadow Legends which is honest. Many times I have seen advertisements that are more like propaganda than a promotion of a product. For example there were ads absolutely shitting on opposing government officials running for positions. The obvious intent to spread information weather its true or not to sway peoples ideals. In the article I found the focus has been toward global warming ads that "promote inaccurate claims". These type of ads have been a rising problem and Google has began cracking down on websites like YouTube and not allowing for them the claims denying climate change to be shown. This push is both to keep people better informed but to also side Google against companies that are a big contributors to climate change. The misleading in ads hasn't just been exclusive to YouTube. The article also explains how big gas companies have been disingenuous with their advertisements and appearing more "green" than they really are. Due to this different big journals like The New York Times and British Medical Journal have stopped showing fossil fuel ads. (Wakabayashi)

The value proposition that I've gathered from this article is that all of these companies care about the type of information that is being put out there and are restricting it on their behalf. They actually lose money doing this but that is less important than giving misinformation. This has been a big problem with content alone steering people in the wrong direction and I think its fantastic that Google is putting the hammer down on it. This is not a new innovation being seen but its a great first step for Google to show they care about things that are prevalent in the world. 

If I were Googles marketing team I would give people in the community to make ads that would replace these ones that apply to the same topic but are approved with information that is valid. They would submit them for the best ones to be selected and featured as ads on YouTube. The creator could get a return every time the ad is played and would open up the doors to many creative people. 

This take on advertising did not show a certain product and the companies design of the ad. Instead it looked at advertising as a whole and where lines need to be drawn. I think that this was a great thing to happen but there is no knowing exactly how much farther this will be able to extend to or if it will stay with online ads with Google. All in all it is a great thing to see moves being made by the company in this regard.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/technology/google-youtube-ads-climate-change-misinformation.html