Blocklists Used To Avoid Ad Placements In Sensitive Content

Last month Target Corp. told a leading online news publisher not to run its ads in stories related to the Black Lives Matter movement. Articles mentioning police-brutality victims such as “Breonna Taylor” and “George Floyd” were off limits, as were those with the word “protests.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Target and other advertisers that compiled similar “blocklists” say they were respecting the sensitivity of the issue and wanted to avoid the appearance of exploiting tragedies. News publishers say such moves effectively punish media companies for covering important issues, since they earn less money from content where ad-blocking is prevalent.

Blocklists aren’t new: Before this year, many brands already were sidestepping articles with words like “shooting,” “bomb,” “immigration” or even “Trump,” hoping to avoid associations with controversial topics. The ad blocking went to a new level in 2020—first, as the terms “Covid-19” and “coronavirus” made it onto many blocklists, and more recently with the addition of terms related to the Black Lives Matter movement.

A Target spokesman said the retailer’s ad blocking “does not discount the importance of reporting on topics like Black Lives Matter or the murder of George Floyd. It’s intended to acknowledge that the person consuming that content may not be receptive to a marketing message from a mass retailer like Target at that time.”

MTV, the youth-oriented cable channel owned by ViacomCBS Inc., also avoided ad placements near articles about the protests and unrest. It asked the same leading publisher to avoid placing its ads in stories that mention words including “Breonna Taylor,” “Ahmaud Aubery” [sic], “George Floyd,” “Black Lives Matter,” “protests,” “racism,” “hate” and “policing.”

An MTV spokeswoman said the cable network believes the keyword blocklist in question was for ads for the show “Revenge Prank.”

“Due to the comedic nature of the show...we didn’t want to be insensitive by placing ads for it next to important and serious topics, such as Black Lives Matter,” she said. “This is standard practice we use with our media agency to ensure that our ads don’t come across as tone-deaf or disrespectful.”

Brands maintain keyword blocklists because they don’t always buy ads aimed at specific websites. Instead, in automated ad buying, they often target certain kinds of audiences or types of content, and middlemen direct their ads to sites that fit those characteristics.

Research suggests brands needn’t fear association with hard-news topics. Consumers don’t think negatively of brands when their ads run adjacent to troubling news, according to a recent study by Integral Ad Science, a firm that helps brands avoid unfavorable ad placements.