Google Bans Face Mask Ads Due to Misleading Coronavirus Advertisers

by Bean Media | Mar 11, 2020 | Advertising, Google Ads, Media, Paid Ad Strategy

“Google CEO Sundar Pichai” by thekenyeung is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

The ban on face mask advertising on the Google Network comes amid rising tide of false claims and advertisers looking to cash in on human suffering. Advertising can be ugly, but as per usual… Google knows better.

Mother Google, the Google Gods, whatever you call it doesn’t just let anyone run whatever they want on the display network. If you want to play the Google game, you have to play by Google rules. Not everyone likes to play by the rules. The Google Display networks is essentially millions of websites that are connected and able to be monetized by Google.

Learn More: About the Google Display Network

On Monday, Google began banning ads for face masks during the coronavirus epidemic. Sure, unless you are looking to make a profit on moving masks at a price hike, you won’t be affected.. But this shows the power and influence that Google holds over our society in 2020, at a global scale.

Mask on, NVM Mask OFF

The ban on face mask ads applies to all advertisers, even those who have longstanding campaigns in the industry. Even an ad for say “dust masks” would get denied until further notice. Advertisers will see a message stating,

““This candidate is not permitted to show ads in your target location,”

Google has guidelines that every advertiser must follow, and this particular flag falls under the “sensitive events” section of the guidelines which you can find here.

The ban isn’t related to only graphic display ads however. Even search campaigns won’t show ads on related keyword queries. Google decided to move in this direction due to a rise in ads for facemasks running against coronavirus-related keywords, many with misleading healthcare claims.

Curb The Misinformation

If you saw our blog post on Political Advertising in 2020, you may already have heard how advertising platforms like Google, YouTube, Facebook and others have been working to eliminate the spread of false information.

At its fundamental core, Google IS designed to provide humanity with the best answer, instantaneously.

So it is nice to know that Google is putting in effort to continue maintaining fact based answers in a trying time. Google said it has blocked hundreds of thousands of ads since it began seeing a rise in misleading advertising.

“We’re committed to protecting users and surfacing helpful, authoritative information as the coronavirus situation continues to evolve,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement given to Search Engine Land. “Since January, we have blocked hundreds of thousands of ads for misleading coronavirus-related products or services. Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to temporarily ban all medical face mask ads. We’re actively monitoring the situation and will continue to take action as needed to protect users.”

This is a powerful example of how Google maintains its integrity, despite the mass amount of income it generates off of advertising. It’s nice to know their intentions are still to provide us with the true information.

Even if its surrounded by blinking ads, Google will prevent wrongdoers from capitalizing off of human suffering. No matter how much money you have to spend, or how much you can make, you won’t be able to make it through Google’s platform unless u play by the rules.

Yea, they basically own the internet…..