Firms pull Facebook ads after link with (neo-nazi) BNP material

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Source: Guardian

Two leading companies yesterday pulled their advertising from Facebook after they were randomly placed on a page giving information about the British National party. Vodafone and First Direct took the step when they were alerted to the fact that their adverts were included on a rotation system which flashed them up at intervals on the BNP's entry.

The move may affect other advertisers on Facebook by highlighting a current lack of control over where the multimillion page network places their bookings. It is also likely to lead to refinements in the saturation advertising approach of some firms to currently popular websites.

Vodafone said that it hoped to reinvest in similar advertising but only when "more robust controls" were in place to specify where bookings would appear. The spokeswoman said that the company would work on a basis which gave access to the huge potential audience of sites such as Facebook, while "staying true to our principles".

The adverts on the BNP page in Facebook's political organisations section were spotted by the magazine New Media Age which contacted both firms. The NMA's editor, Justin Pearse, said: "On the internet you often have little control of where your ads are shown. That's now been highlighted by the unwitting association of some of the UK's favourite brands with a highly controversial political cause."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2140702,00.html