• The Wall Street Journal , Monday, September 8, 2008 9:31 AM

The Association of National Advertisers sent a letter to the Justice Department Thursday calling a proposed advertising deal between Google and Yahoo bad for advertisers and recommending that it be blocked. The agreement, announced in June, gives Google the right to sell search and other text ads on Yahoo sites.

The ANA announced the letter on its web site on Sunday. Until now, big marketers have been reluctant to come out against the deal publicly because of Google's growing power in the ad business. Some large advertising agencies and midsize advertisers have endorsed the deal, however, saying they think it will make advertising on Yahoo more effective.

Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA, says that after studying the proposed arrangement for more than a month, the group is concerned that the deal could raise the price of search advertising. It also is worried about the "concentration of power" that the alliance represents. The Justice Department, which doesn't comment on pending reviews, is gathering depositions and evidence that could be used to block the deal if a decision were made to do so, sources say.

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