Brand Safety

February 20, 2025

One of the buzz phrases spawned by the digital age is brand safety. In the Wild West that is digital ad placement, many brands have no clue as to where their ads appear. They might think they know, but the reality is a bit fuzzy.

In his most recent newsletter, Bob Hoffman – aka The Ad Contrarian – wrote about a peer reviewed study written by Dr. Krzysztof Franaszek, the head of Adalytics. I won’t quote the entire article, but these few paragraphs should startle you:

…according to the BBC, “Adalytics documented ads for more than 70 large organisations and Fortune 500 companies running alongside hardcore adult pornography, including MasterCard, Nestlé, Starbucks, Unilever and even the US Government.”

If these brands are in favor of appearing on these sites, fine – that is their tactical decision.

This was even more disturbing:

“The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) says it found at least 35 images on one site in question that meet its classification of child sexual abuse material (CSAM.) There may have been as many as 600 such images on that one site but legal definitions are vague (e.g., AI generated images may not be illegal. Think about that.) If this isn’t sickening enough, one of the children in the abusive images was confirmed to be a known missing child.” 

According to Adweek,“The website… garners over 40 million page views per month…includes both explicit adult content as well as illegal Child Sexual Abuse Material. Researchers were unable to determine ownership of the sites.”

I am damn sure not one of these companies want to be associated with this “content.” It is beyond disgusting.

Digital advertising has many positives; for example, being on page one of any Google search. However, the above examples are the farthest from positive you can get.

How does this relate to radio? The simple answer is that an advertiser knows what they are buying from us. There was a time when companies shied away from such controversial personalities like Howard Stern. At the same time, other advertisers flocked to his show and wanted Howard’s audience to view them as part of the tribe.

Today most of the polarization on radio is in the talk sphere. When I worked for an ad agency one of our clients had a “no Rush” mandate. Others bought his show on a regular basis.

The point here is choice. Advertisers make strategic decisions about what they stand for. They are supposed to be meticulous about where their ads appear and who they target.

In radio, the choice is clear and transparent. In the digital dystopia, not so much.

I encourage you to sign up for Bob Hoffman’s newsletter. You can do so here.

-Steve Allan, Programming Research Consultant

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