• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 11, 2024

Advertisers are finding that their ads are not always appearing in “brand-safe” media.

Instead, some are being shown next to racist and obscene content, according to an analysis by Adalytics. 

We’ll spare you the offensive, almost shocking headlines that the study lists. But major brands have been victimized, including, according to Adalytics: Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Lexus, Meta, Kenvue, Ikea, Mercedes Benz, Volvo, the US Navy, HP, Applebee’s, Pfizer, Disney, 3M, UPS, Nestle, Grammarly, AMC Theaters, Live Nation Entertainment, Thomas Reuters, Nestle, Marriott, The Dairy Alliance, Nintendo, Pepsi, Abbvie, T-Mobile, NBCUniversal, Mattress Firm, Amazon, Wawa, Autozone, SC Johnson, OnDeck, Sam’s Club, Hertz, Lipton, Walmart, and Prudential. 

One brand was assured by its media agency holding company, a demand side platform (DSP) and brand safety verification vendor, that its campaigns were 100% brand safe. 

Indeed, some advertisers pay for prebid, postbid, and keyword exclusion brand-safety technology. Yet they still end up being placed on disreputable sites over which they have no control.

Adalytics alleges, “Many of the ads observed on this content were noted to include a Javascript from vendors such as DoubleVerify or Integral Ad Science,” which could not be confirmed at deadline. 

One Fortune 500 brand marketer states, “The facts uncovered in this research make something alarmingly clear – not only does full URL transparency for advertisers need to be adopted immediately by all DSPs, but also the brand safety & verification technologies that claim to have been providing URL & Page level protection have been nothing short of insufficient and need to immediately review and update their tools to actually include full URL data and properly classify content to protect brands as well as publishers."

Get your tools in order. Failing that, there’s still something to be said for buying direct-sold advertising.