In a recent ClickZ article covering Sergey Brin's and Larry Page's recent Playboy interview, the Google co-founders discuss why "some ads are evil, some ads are OK." This has been a thorn in the side of many an AdWords advertiser for a while now, and it still vexes even intelligent marketers.
As one who manages search engine marketing for Vino.com, a wine and liquor consumer portal and online store, I learned first-hand of Sergey's and Larry's distaste for hard liquor. At least, when it comes to advertising it through AdWords. I have no idea if the duo downs Jim Beam or not, but I'm guessing not, since they consider liquor ads to be "evil."
I learned this fact last year when Vino.com began offering liquor products in its wine store. What happened? Well, like others before me, I fought the Google editors, and the Google editors won.
Now, I understand that Google wants to retain editorial control over these listings. Should they ban political ads? Probably, or it could open a can of worms that would lead to issues of fairness. Should they ban "attack" ads of any sort? Probably, for the same reasons.
But, should they ban legitimate ads for legitimate products? I'm thinking: Probably not. Of course, what constitutes a legitimate product? When you allow wine and beer ads, but not liquor, how can you justify it? Oh, because whiskey has 40% alcohol by volume, it's now "bad"? And at what point does an alcoholic beverage turn evil? 20%? 30%? Nah, it's 40%! Yeah, that sounds good.
I'll concede that it's Google's game, and they can play it any way they like it. But, I won't be truly pacified until I get a personal e-mail from Sergey or Larry explaining in point-by-point detail why liquor ads are evil.
Or, a few thousand shares. That would be good, too.
Posted by Cory Kleinschmidt
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