As your sellers go about their hard work convincing advertisers about how strong and stable radio continues to be for them, here’s another piece of ammunition they can take with them to the front lines of their sales calls. This latest story just adds to the uncertainty of what advertisers are really getting from the social media giant.
We all know advertisers are in love with Google and Facebook (not to mention that radio executives would like to see more deregulation due to those two digital powerhouses). One of the reasons advertisers use Faceook is because of their ability to target ads. Well, that’s changing at the social media giant.
Faced with civil lawsuits and a new federal investigation, Facebook announced on Tuesday that it was removing thousands of ad-targeting options — including ones they decide enable discrimination based on ethnicity or religion. In a blog post called “Keeping Advertising Safe and Civil,” Facebook said, “We’re committed to protecting people from discriminatory advertising on our platforms. That’s why we’re removing over 5,000 targeting options to help prevent misuse. While these options have been used in legitimate ways to reach people interested in a certain product or service, we think minimizing the risk of abuse is more important.”
According to MediaPost Facebook has removed the ability to block ads from being seen by users interested in things like “Passover,” “Evangelicalism,” “Native American culture,” “Islamic culture,” and “Buddhism.” Facebook will soon require advertisers to certify that they have reviewed the company’s non-discrimination policies and comply with them. Facebook says its policies prohibit discrimination, but allow advertisers to target ads “to a specific audience based on known interests” that align with what they are selling, according to MediaPost.
In 2016, a group of Facebook users sued the company, alleging civil rights laws were being violated by enabling race-based ad targeting. In July Facebook settled an investigation by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson by promising to stop allowing advertisers to block ads for housing, credit, jobs, insurance and places of public accommodation from people based on ethnic affinities.
I wonder if this report does not serve as an incredibly timely and handy excuse for radio management to continue abdicating their responsibilities to improve their own products and services in order to enhance their own positions in the market.
Actually, truth be told, I am not wondering at all.
It will do quite nicely, and it won’t motivate anybody in radio to do anything.