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Tesco pulls Facebook groups ads

A repeat of the advertising against undesirable content shocker

14 May 2009 15:34 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

You could be forgiven for thinking you were reading headlines from August 2007 when this issue first flared up, but it seems another big company has realised some of its adverts on Facebook are being shown next to undesirable material.

A few years ago it was First Direct and Vodafone not wanting their messages to the masses to be juxtaposed with the BNP's Facebook group, but this time round it's Tesco with its ads alongside Holocaust denial groups - as well as that old favourite, the BNP.

Tesco has now said it will only advertise on the Facebook homepage or profile pages, avoiding Facebook's user-generated groups that could see its marketing missives juxtaposed with all kinds of horrors.

And it seems Vodafone didn't learn its lesson from the 2007 fiasco either, as yet again the operator's ads have also been positioned next to the BNP's pages, as had O2's.

A Vodafone spokesperson told the new media age, "We have removed our advertising from the offensive group and are working closely with Facebook and our media agency Carat to ensure more robust controls are in place".

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Biz, Software, Websites, Facebook, Vodafone, Tesco, Advertising, O2