Ads for Adidas, Acura, Bertolli, Crest, Charmin, Domino’s, Ford, Geico, Hellmann’s, Lowe’s, Panera, Papermate, PG&E, Post and more share space with sex ads
I know I sound like a broken record, particularly when writing about online advertisers’ ongoing refusal to do something about their role in ad-sponsored online piracy.
In writing about this issue I’ve repeatedly pointed out that in the world of brick and mortar publishing, companies are extremely picky about ad placement and exert careful control over what editorial content appears beside them.
Apparently, in the world of online advertising, such vigilance is of little concern. It’s a literal free-for-all where companies, desperate to squeeze every penny out of their ad budgets, contract with multiple ad networks to blanket the web with their promotions. Advertisers willingly abdicate their control over ad placement in favor of market saturation. With this in mind I’m sharing a sample of some vulgar, sex ads found on pirate download links that show up aside ads featuring popular, brand-name products.
Do these companies really want their products promoted pages linking to pirated copies of Gravity, beside ads that read “First Free Find & F**k Site” or a chat window featuring well-endowed “Molly” who teases, “I wanna f**k now?”
Ad Industry Best Practices?
The ad industry and ad service providers have made a show of agreeing to voluntary “best practices” agreements to fight ad-sponsored piracy, but despite their talk and White House support, not much has changed. Take a look at the graphic below…What kind of industry “best practices” do these ad placements represent?
Can these advertisers really pretend that it’s not worth taking action? Piracy profiteering is alive and well and the ad dollars of advertisers like these play a significant role.
These companies work hard to protect and promote their brand’s image and so seeing Charmin toilet paper advertised aside a“First Free Find & F**k” ad seems more akin to pimping than promotion and it’s certainly does not complement their fuzzy, family bear campaign.
The bottom line is that these ads are not good for business unless, of course, you’re in the business of online piracy or selling sex. If that’s the case, then these ads are the lifeblood that sustains you while simultaneously sucking the life out of the content creators whose work your steal. 
It’s a sick and twisted illicit economy and legitimate advertisers better start taking their “best practices” seriously and voluntarily remove their brands from these ad networks unless they want their products associated with images like this.
**Note, I will be adding to the “Advertiser Hall of Shame” slide show (below) as I come across new examples. Unfortunately, I imagine I will be making updates often.
