FC: Gagged by Google? Body Shop founder protests blog ad deletion

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri May 31 2002 - 10:43:50 PDT

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    [I agree with the estimable St. Clair. A few thoughts: (1) Google's 
    advertising policy is unquestionably silly and short-sighted. (2) But Anita 
    Roddick knew or should have known that when she signed the contract to 
    advertise her blog. Complaining that her ads were yanked after she agreed 
    to the contract is a little like complaining that your home was foreclosed 
    on after you didn't pay your mortgage. (3) The practical effects of 
    Google's ad-word policy are also well known 
    (http://www.politechbot.com/p-03260.html). (4) In addition to excellent 
    content, which Laura Flanders mentions below, good uptime is essential. As 
    I write this, www.anitaroddick.com is offline. --Declan]
    
    ---
    
    Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 08:47:12 -0700
    From: "Jeffrey St. Clair" <sitkaat_private>
    To: CP List <counterpunch-listat_private>,
             Dave Marsh <marsh6at_private>, David Vest <davidvestat_private>,
             Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    Subject: Gagged by Google
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    [it's silly on google's part. but is it really censorship to reject an
    ad? the peeved roddick begins to sound like Mitch McConnell on campaign
    finance. moreover, here's laura's fine story about the affair, giving it
    much more attention that it would have otherwise engendered, which
    appears ONLY on the....yes....Internet.--jsc]
    
    Laura Flanders <WorkingForChange.com> 05.30.02
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    Gagged by Google Body Shop founder censored by search engine
    
    Media activists have a lot to put up with these days. Not
    only is there more to complain about than ever when it comes
    to the timidity and lap-doggishness of most journalists _
    not to mention the shrinking spectrum of views that get
    aired _ but, in addition, there are the cliches one has to
    contend with. The one that peeves me most right now is the
    one about the glories of the Internet.
    
    According to the oft-repeated mantra, those who have a
    problem with the networks, the cable channels, the
    newspapers and Clear Channel radio, have their own outlet
    now _ it's the World Wide Web.
    
    I heard this argument most recently in Charlottesville at
    the University of Virginia from a co-panelist at a public
    forum, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA),Co-Chairman of the
    Congressional Internet Caucus.
    
    You've got the Internet, you've got the Internet. The
    Representative said it so often that finally I proposed a
    trade: let Disney, Viacom, GE and AOL/TIME Warner take the
    Internet, I suggested. We'll give it to them _ in exchange
    for the broadcast television networks, cable, publishing and
    Hollywood. The Congressman said it was an idea he hadn't
    heard before. Indeed.
    
    The World Wide Web is a fabulous phenomenon. It's fantastic
    for getting news out that can be spread no other way, but is
    it the answer to the media-related prayers of social change
    activists? Hardly, as Anita Roddick found out this month.
    
    Roddick is the founder of the Body Shop, the notable
    socially-responsible health-and-beauty store chain. She
    resigned as co-chair of the company this February to
    dedicate herself to activism full-time. Roddick has lots to
    say (she recently edited a book called Take it Personally,
    it's out now from Harper Collins) and she keeps a
    politically-oriented "blog" (or Web log). Driving major
    traffic to one's site is almost impossible without
    advertising or good search engine placement, as bloggers
    know. Roddick advertised on the popular Google engine _ or
    did until they took exception to what she had to say.
    
    It began when Roddick posted a short comment on her site
    about actor John Malkovich's public threat to shoot Scottish
    Member of Parliament George Galloway and Independent
    reporter Robert Fisk. (Malkovich railed against critics of
    Israel at a high-profile speech at Cambridge University.)
    
    "John Malkovich often plays disturbed and dangerous men in
    his films," wrote Roddick, "maybe he's not acting. His
    threat to shoot Robert Fisk for his honest reportage on
    Israel is but further evidence that Malkovich is a vomitous
    worm."
    
    "Vomitous worm" didn't go down well with Google. Shortly
    after Roddick made the comment, she got word that the
    advertising staff at the search engine were suspending her
    ad campaign. "They said that my ad violated their editorial
    policy against 'sites that advocate against groups or
    individuals,'" writes Roddick.
    
    Apparently Google saw no irony in the text of the ad they
    pulled. It read: "<AnitaRoddick.com:> Uncensored."
    
    By this logic, points out Roddick, "no one could advertise
    who maligned any human being, be it Stalin, Hitler or even
    Bin Laden." She could have added "George W. Bush" to the
    list.
    
    When Roddick's website editor spoke to the Google team about
    their policy, they told her they do not accept ads for sites
    with any political content that could be perceived as "anti"
    anything. It'd be funny, and it's riduculous on its face,
    but Roddick's ads have in fact, been pulled.
    
    "I am virtually invisible," says Roddick. Actually, the
    former CEO's visibility is hard to suppress, but the lesson
    should sober up bloggers everywhere.
    
    Big media are happy to sell their critics the crumbs that
    fall from the corporate table. Blog away, be happy, they
    tell the activists. But far from a free-speech paradise, the
    Internet is fast becoming the next corporate-controlled
    universe, going the way of cable TV or publishing. As long
    as censors operate as gatekeepers, dissenters can speak all
    they like _ but they won't be heard.
    
    Journalist Laura Flanders is the host of Working Assets
    Radio and author of "Real Majority, Media Minority: The Cost
    of Sidelining Women in Reporting." Her Spin Doctor Laura
    columns appear weekly on WorkingForChange. You can contact
    her at <lauraat_private> To respond to this article,
    report a problem or provide general feedback to the editors
    of this site, click here.
    
    
    
    
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