Article in Slashdot by Editor David, 1/4/25
Headline: “Advertisers Expand Their Avoidance to News Sites, Blacklisting Specific Words”
” ‘The Washington Post’s crossword puzzle was recently deemed too offensive for advertisers,’ reports the Wall Street Journal. ‘So was an article about thunderstorms. And a ranking of boxed brownie mixes.’
” ‘Marketers have long been wary about running ads in the news media, concerned that their brands will land next to pieces about terrorism or plane crashes or polarizing political stories.’ But That advertising no-go zone seems to keep widening.
“It is a headache that news publishers can hardly afford. Many are also grappling with subscriber declines and losses in traffic from Google and other tech platforms, and are now making an aggressive push to change advertisers’ perceptions… News organizations recently began publicizing studies that show it really isn’t dangerous for a brand to appear near a sensitive story. . . ”