Is Google Advertising Dodgy Adobe Products?

We all know that internet advertising is booming, and much of that growth is coming from “search” – that is, advertising that you see dependent on your search terms on Google, Yahoo, MSN or wherever. But to what extent should the advertisers be checked out by Google and its ilk before that advertising goes live?
I ask this because I’ve seen some “interesting” ads recently on Google services. A recent search via Google Shopping for a particular model of camera threw up one online store that offered a suspciously cheap camera. I searched around, but couldn’t easily find a contact at Google Shopping to report the dodgy site to. The service is automated and Google explicitly explains that you can’t get a position on the service via payment. Fair enough, although it’d be nice to at least get a human to check out suspicious sites.
Then this morning I saw this sponsored link in my Gmail:
Suspicious Sponsored Link
Photoshop CS3 for £29 sounds just a little suspicious. Amazon charges £500 for the same product!
I decided against spending £29 in pursuit of my investigation. I suspect that they’re either selling trials that can otherwise be downloaded free from Adobe’s site, or cracked versions of the software.
Is it fair for me to ask whether or not Google should be at least running cursory checks on their advertising? Such is teh size of the market, that it would be expensive, but should they still do it? Expense or not, Google has a reputation to maintain, and being used to advertise pirated software is not smart. I work in commercial radio, and as far as I know we’ve never run an advertisement for an illegal product. Indeed in radio and television, there are services to check through adverts to see that they adhere to all the rules of the land and aren’t liable to offend or distort the truth. We also credit check new advertisers when they come on board to ensure that they’ll be able to pay for advertising, although this is largely because we charge in arrears and want to make sure they don’t run off without paying. Google usually takes money up front but I’ve got to tell you that finding the right place to complain was not easy.
Eventually, after quite a bit of searching, I came to this well-hidden page and submitted a complaint. It’ll be interesting to learn if they follow up my complaint, although difficult to prove either way since it may be unlikely that I see another ad from them anyway. I also contacted Adobe.
It’s important that complaints about advertising are taken seriously by the likes of Google. If I distrust ads that I see served, then that’s counter to my belief in the whole medium as a place to advertise. I’m sure Google will take my complaint seriously and stop this infringer. But the process should really be simpler, and even if Google has to employ more people to check the veracity of some of its copy then that’s a small price to pay.


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