BusinessWeek: Google's Ads — and Minuses

On TV, some networks refuse ads for commercial products if they feel the ads are not up to snuff. But the same standards don't apply to political advertising, which is generally given much more leeway. A recent incident involving complaints that Google censored a political message by disallowing the running of a non-profit's ad may show that the Internet could move in a similar direction.

Comparative advertising is acceptable, but, apparently, there is a point at which Google believed an ad became excessively negative. Other than the non-profit groups in this BusinessWeek article, so far no political groups or candidates seem to have tested the waters further. This may be an interesting year for search engine marketing given the election season.