18 Rated Ad on Yahoo Frontpage

Recently one of the adverts that ran on the Yahoo UK frontpage really upset me. Since I work on this it’s pretty close to my heart. The ad was for an 18 rated horror movie which I suppose will be in “all good cinemas” soon. I have no problem with horror movies, I don’t watch many any more, but I’m not fussed if other people do.

What annoyed me about this Ad was the context.

The Yahoo frontpage is one of the most widely used sites in Europe. Yahoo is also very much a family brand. While I was warned that I should be over 18 in order to continue I don’t think that’s sufficient. I don’t think this ad is suitable at all.

Furthermore with a newly created, logged in user with an age of 8 this advert is still displayed. So, even when we know the user is too young we still show them adverts only suitable for adults? This is really bad, it’s something that should be fixed. Advertising money should come with at least some caveats.

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