MarketingVOX: The Voice of Online Marketing | MEDIA KIT | NEWS TIPS

'Sicko' SNAFU Elicits Apology from Google


Ask for anesthesia

The Google blogger who advised health-care advertisers to mount an anti-Sicko campaign via paid search ads has apologized for setting so public an agenda, reports The Enquirer.
The incident started when a Google employee put up a post on the Google Health Advertising Blog that encouraged health-care companies to counter Michael Moore's documentary Sicko with a paid search effort.

Buying keywords associated with the movie, the post said, would lead movie information seekers to content from health care companies instead. The post immediately triggered outrage in the blogosphere among people who believe such advice violates Google's "Don't Be Evil" mantra by firmly coming down on the side of a corporate entity.

They also pointed out how user experience could be manipulated with such admonitions.

The blogger who put up the post apologized for the statement, saying it was her personal opinion and not Google's as a whole.

The outlet she used, however, was a Google corporate blog and, at least in some respects, part of the official Google information machine.

Related Topics

major players news
ad selling
ad buying & planning
worst practices
ad targeting

Search

VideoEgg
sponsor
E-Mail This Story email this story «
Related stories:

Subscribe to MarketingVOX|News

MARKETING JOBS