A quick note about advertising

July 28, 2008

Before we get into the day’s news, a quick word on Carpetbagger Report advertising.

As a rule, I maintain a strict firewall between my content and my advertising. In almost every instance, if a sponsor wants to advertise on the site, I’m going to accept it.

Without pointing fingers or getting into specifics, last week, I approved an ad that was, shall we say, a little risque. OK, more than a little. The ad wasn’t my cup of tea, but again, I take the advertising firewall seriously.

The feedback from readers was overwhelming, and nearly unanimous. Everyone, it seemed, wanted the ad to go. Perhaps most importantly, many of you noted the difficulties in reading the site at work if a “provocative” ad appeared on the screen.

Just to let readers know, I decided to pull the ad over the weekend. I was reluctant, but decided it was ultimately counter-productive — if the ad prompted fewer people to come to the site, it would necessarily make the site less attractive to other advertisers.

In other words, you win. Just don’t complain when I start hosting occasional fundraisers to help cover server costs….

I understand the dilemma you’re in. Couldn’t the advertiser change the ad? I don’t think the photo of Pam Anderson was attractive or seductive, what about just a pleasant head shot of her? It’s hard to imagine that anyone who clicked through (I admit, I did) would engage in the real message which was really diminished by the slutty come on. Please share my comments with the advertiser and perhaps they’ll change the approach.

  • I don’t pay attention to ads. I just blank them all out. Except the ones that march across the screen.

  • That ad was tacky as hell and unworthy of this site. I’m glad it’s gone and I hope it’s the last of the porn here.

  • I have Opera so I just block ad content on all the sites I visit so I never worry about the ads

  • Um, it probably doesn’t help Steve pay the bills if we’re all saying we ignore/block/hate the ads.

    Feel free to remain pure yourself, but do our host a favor and stop telling his advertisers.

  • Ad? What ad? I am here everyday and I didn’t notice it. The only reason I come to this site is for Steve’s brilliant writing and analysis.

    Of course, I never pay attention to ads on any site, just like I never pay attention to commercials on TV. In fact, I hate commercials. That was one of the main reasons I began watching C-Span in the morning – no commercials.

  • i’ll ask again: where are the cbr t-shirts?

    as for pamela anderson, i don’t know what the ad was for, but she never hurt my interest in anything.

  • Please, please, please, I didn’t see it, I didn’t see it, what was it? what was it? where can I find it? Please.

  • Good decision, Steve. Now, what are your demographics? [I’m assuming mostly males who might click through on Pam, however slutty, just to read the articles.] Maybe we readers can suggest to your advertisers what we’d like to see. Me [60+ female]: travel, wine, energy-efficient replacements for all the stuff I’ve already got…

  • So host a fundraiser already. I’ll pony up some dough to keep you up and running.

  • I agree with our angry young man – If there’s any money in merchandising, go for it. Plus it’s permanent advertizing that may pull more readers.
    A classy T with your logo would be cool to sport.

  • how funny is that pic with JM hugging W? John is such an ackward looking person, isn’t he? I loved the PETA ad BTW.

  • I’d buy a shirt too, but for those of us who read TCBReport as a source of sanity in an insane political world, why not click on that little button that reads “Click to Give” through Amazon and drop a fin or 2. I did. A preemptive strike against a fundraiser. It’s definitely worth it.

  • I made a donation, not that I wanted to reward this kind of behavior, Steve 🙂

    That ad was sad on three levels. 1) because IMO CBR is a really respectable blog, and that ad diminished my respect. Female exploitation isn’t cool. 2) I like to send links to CBR articles to conservatives, because this is a site that plays it straight for the most part, without too much partisan over-the-topness from Steve. Any ad like that one makes the ads the issue, instead of the topic du jour. and 3) I feel sorry for any woman who has to carry two watermelons like those around all the time. She’s like a freak-show escapee, truly a poster child for the media circus. If any other part of her anatomy was so grossly oversized, society would consider it a malady to be cured, not a way to make money.

  • I found the ad a bit oddly disturbing because she appeared to have three arms in it, but otherwise it didn’t rattle my cage all that much. I really do come here for the articles, to coin a phrase. 😉

  • P.S.

    I would buy a t-shirt, too, if one were offered, just for the record. 🙂

  • just to be clear, and I think most regulars know this already, but it isn’t like Steve was taking ads for “Pam and Tommy’s Home Video Collection” – it wasn’t an ad for Pam per se at all. IT was an ad for a perfectly legit and above-board progressive group – PETA – who has a good cause and a progressive bent but who, unfortunately, has one huge blind-spot about the retrograde nature (and just plain lack of class) of one of its key ad campaigns (“I’d rather be naked than wear fur”). Pam just happens to be one of the key players in that campaign. I think PETA gets a little blinded by the fact that a bunch of celebs want to use their looks to advance PETA’s cause. Anyway, just keep in mind that Steve accepted an ad supporting the ethical treatment of animals, not Pam’s Private Porn.

  • I want to say, I have to respect CBR for the firewall. It takes a lot of courage to allow others a platform to say something with which you disagree. I think it;s fair to say that the PETA ad went across the demographic and upset enough people that pulling it is justified… but it reassures me that this was a dilemma. for Steve. We don’t ever want to slip into a hole where ads and other speech is blocked due to content. So I say” If McCain’s campaign dropped money on Steve to advertise, more power to him for accepting it.

    The bit about triggering workplace filters turns this into an odd one, but still…

  • I’d just like to de-lurk enough to say that, as a woman, I found nothing wrong with the ad. And, as a regular reader, it did not distract me from anything or downgrade the status of this site in anyway. The only way that could happen is if the writing became crappy (which I’m sure it won’t). 🙂

    The only concern, for me, was reading the blog at work and making sure no one saw the ad. Otherwise, no big deal. I knew it was for PETA and I knew what they wanted to accomplish.

    But to each, their own.

  • Firefox 3.0.1 with adblocker here…

    Never even knew there was an ad.
    It’s always a clean, elegant, pure-lined CB I see…
    You know: The classic view.

  • Oops, forget to “ad:”

    Those so-called genius grants really don’t mean diddly-squat.
    Steve Benen should have received one long ago…

  • In appreciation for Steve’s willingness to listen to the concerns of his readership, and, after taking into consideration his principles on separation of commerce and politics as well as the reactions of those willing to share their opinions, his decision to remove the advertisement in question from this forum, I am clicking on the “PayPal Donate” button, and providing a $5 donation to “The Carpetbagger Report”.

    Seeing as advertisement is likely to provide revenue of at least $200 per week for an information source as reliable and high caliber as this, it would be great if another 39 readers would join me in this effort.

    I pay quite a bit more than $5 per month for less reliable information sources that engage in far less effort. Anyone who appreciates what Steve provides here ought to consider how much they appreciate it, and give thought to clicking on the “PayPal Donate” or the Amazon “Click To Give” once per month and share in the support of the work Steve does.

    While Steve needs to offset a variety of costs associated with maintaining this blog, as well as earning a modest income to cover the costs of a reasonable lifestyle, from what I’ve known and learned of Steve, I suspect that he’d prefer not to have to do so with advertising, and would appreciate the opportunity to reduce the total volume of advertising here.

  • I dig CBR, I didn’t care remotely about the ad, and I don’t have workplace concerns. All the same, I didn’t like the not-quite-joking, guilt-inducing tone of the final line of this post. This wasn’t a war, and no one twisted your arm — there were simply a lot of complaints about the ad on either personal or practical grounds. On the basis of that, you made a decision to take it down, which you alone can make.

    I respect that you made a proper decision about it, one way or the other, and publicly addressed it. But then please don’t put it back on us, as if we made you do something against your will, that compromised your principles and is going to make you broke. As a casual reader, I’m not aware of your ad “firewall”, and I’m guessing most others here aren’t either. You are the one who made the (correct, in my view) decision to remove the ad — but no one made you do it.

    If you’re having revenue concerns and want to fundraise, and choose to address that in a serious fashion, I’m sure many of us would respond. But to peevishly complain that somehow your readers’ complaints about one specific ad equates to starving the site and constitutes a “victory” over you personally is far below the normal level of discourse and insight that brings us all here.

  • I’m a relatively new reader. I followed Steve over from Salon’s War Room. Salon’s content went into the toilet. I’ve been very happy with the posted content and the reader commentary at CB. I peruse the ads on occasion, the PA add was not to my taste, but to each his/her own. I don’t believe I get to say what’s OK.

    PS I’d buy a shirt too.

  • Until zeitgeist said the ad was for PETA I didn’t have a clue. A photo of a nekid Pammy A. online immediately makes me say “Get thee away from me spam monster” and I shield my cursors eyes so it can’t look. That can’t make for effective advertising.

    It’s a blog eat blog world out there Mr. CB and you gotta do what you gotta do. But it seems like there would be a galaxy of stuff to put up as advertising, even for PETA, that would help pay the bills and be less….provocative?

    The point about viewing at work is valid. At least at my work. No Pam in the RAW. Not even a flash.

  • The ad didn’t offend me, but I get how people had difficulties while at work. My issue with the ad is how counterproductive Pam is for PETA. I just don’t think she makes a good spokesperson. She actually makes me want to eat KFC, just to piss her off.

    i’ll ask again: where are the cbr t-shirts?

    Great idea until you start thinking about the logistics. Every minute Steve spends on t-shirts is one less he spends on edumacating us. Or you go Cafe Press, and turn a blind eye to quality.

    On the other hand. I’d wear it proudly seven days a week, so bring on the t-shirts! 🙂

  • I clicked on the ad just so that CB would get a little more ad money.

    I left the webpage sit in the background.

    I don’t know how much CB gets per click but it didn’t cost me any time since the ad had already caught my eye.

  • Steve, I understand and appreciate your dilemma. I thought the ad was tacky and in poor taste, but I usually admire PETA and the work they do.

    My big surprise was that there wasn’t an alternative picture or ad available as a substitution.

    Oh, and I’d buy a t-shirt, too.

  • Maybe it is time for a t-shirt design(s) “contest”?

    And anyone have experience with various vendors (like Cafe Press)? I’ll try to do some research, but if anyone already has and wants to share that’d be awesome.

  • Yeah, the PETA ad was soooooo risque – not!

    What happened is too many folks who thought they were going to see Pamela Anderson’s boobs saw how their Chicken dinner arrives on the plate – there are NO rules regarding humane treatment of birds, and Kentucky Fried Cruelty is the ONLY fast food corporation (Yum Foods Co. is their parent) that refuses to set rules for their providers.

    Carnivores – eating happily so long as no one reminds them of the holocaust they support.

  • I thought the ad was clever, but I don’t work in a stodgy work environment.

    So not saying you made the wrong call, but still, kinda sad the ad was removed.

  • Forgive me for what must seem like a stupid question, but I’m ‘puter-illiterate and, besides, if one doesn’t ask, one remains stupid forever, which is worse.

    Does Steve only get paid when we actually click on the ads?

    I have an automatic ad block but have disabled it for several sites which I read regularly and that includes Steve’s. I thought that was enough for him to show he had enough traffic for advertisers to place the ads and pay him for allowing space. So, how does that really work?

    BTW. Last week, when people started complaining about that PETA ad, I tried — again — to donate to the site and, this time, was successful. The first time, I must have clicked on the PayPal site and had a hell of a time backing out, as I don’t have a PayPal account. This time, the gods of cyberspace and intertubes led me to the Amazon’s “click to give” and I managed to conclude the transaction.

    But then, there was this puzzle: Amazon allows you two options. You can donate and remain anonymous — but will they pass on the money? After the past 8 yrs, I don’t trust anyone, where money is concerned. Or, you tell them you want him to know you’d given. Safe, but tacky, and, apparently, it forces him to write you a personal thank you note, which cuts into his time. On that basis, I’ve decided it’s better to give him a slightly larger amount but less frequently, than, say, $5 every month.

  • I noticed all the comments about the ad just the other day…and I was appalled to think that the people who comment here…who I thought were liberal thinking people…could get all upset over a woman who wasn’t even completely naked! Or even one who was completely naked…what… you’ve never happened to glance in the mirror when you’re getting into the shower or looked at a girl on the beach ( who might as well be naked)? Are we all that hung up over naked bodies? We all have one…so what’s the big deal? And I cannot imagine that one small picture on the side of the screen would be a problem for anyone. But then I got over being upset with nudity…mine or anyone else’s…years ago.

  • Ms Carpetbagger said:

    Maybe it is time for a t-shirt design(s) “contest”?

    Considering the demographic here, how about golf shirts with logos and/or the url?

  • hmmm. . .

    well-informed and well-spoken? check.
    new-media savvy? check.
    progressive? check.
    responsive to his constituents? check?
    willing to fundraise? check.

    looks like Steve should run for office!

  • A CBR CafePress shop would be easy to set up. You can have a basic shop (no monthly fee, but you can’t mess with the HTML or offer more than one of a particular item–say, sweatshirts–each with a different design) or a premium shop ($6.95/month, you can do some HTML customization, and if you have 14 different designs, you can offer 14 different sweatshirts).

    I speak from experience, because I own or maintain for other folks a total of 6 CafePress shops. Write me at editormom at kokedit dot com if you want a list of the shops’ URLs.

  • The PETA ad with the over-cooked, greasy rib-eye steak I found more offensive. (It’s the one they’re playing on actual adult-rated sites)

    Tho I did wonder at the three-armed naked picture, I just ignored it as I just don’t award titillation.

    I’m sorry you had to pull it, but thank you for doing so.

    And yes, I’d buy a t-shirt.

  • I don’t block ads.
    I pay for the content with my occasional clicks.

    Having Obama ads on my screen at work isn’t particularly “safe” for me as it’s clearly not related to my job. Right click an ad and a big fat menu covers most of it.

    As for you fine folk asking for a fundraiser…
    Why wait?
    There are two links to help pay for this irreplaceable resource.
    I sent a little cash when I realized how much more value I got from Mr. Benen than from my $1.50 a week newspaper subscription.
    There will be more someday.
    Soon, if I’m any kind of decent human being.

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