Some women targeted by the ad reacted with humour – one quipped to me: "Well, at least Facebook is also offering me wedding dresses at the same time, so it's giving me options." However, many who received the ad started to second-guess their lifestyle choices. What were they doing that made Facebook think they were in the market for a termination? Was it their lifestyle? Was something in their pictures or their statuses that flipped a switch that made an algorithm assume they were pregnant?
Now, I've got no problem with abortion providers advertising per se; but I'd still pay good money to find out exactly what search terms or keywords the abortion.com ad is looking for (sadly, they refused to comment for this piece when asked). When asked, Facebook declined to offer any information on the specific keywords, and issued a bullish statement about abortion advertising. A spokesperson told me: "Advertising of Post-Conception Advice Services (PCAS) is permitted under Facebook's rules, just as it is in print and broadcast media in the UK. Unlike other media, if people don't like an advert they see on Facebook they are able to dismiss it by clicking 'X' on the corner of the ad."
It's true that such advertisements are allowed on both print and broadcast media. Guidelines are laid down by the Committee of Advertising Practice. Indeed, Facebook are right that people who see such adverts on Facebook are able to dismiss the ads by clicking the X button and can even specify the reason that they no longer wish to see the advert; the options include "Against my views". There's also an option to hide a specific ad, or all adverts from that particular company.
Is that good enough? There's a key difference. If you see this advert on the tube, on a billboard, or hear it on the radio, it's not personal to you; it's not coming at you in what is supposed to be a personal and safe space. In contrast, plenty of people would be seriously upset by this Facebook ad; it's a safe bet to imagine women who have had abortions don't want to be reminded of it when logging on to share a picture or update a status. That's even leaving aside anyone who is pro-life, or deeply religious, people's parents or boyfriends seeing it and jumping to the wrong conclusions, that sort of thing. I also wonder just how many British women would require to be prompted by an ad, rather than doing a quick Google search – which brings up a wealth of free resources.
It strikes me this is a seriously mistargeted ad. My guess is it's a fairly crass social media intern in the US cynically assuming that a good time for the UK launch of their website is around New Year, and sending out a blanket barrage targeted at women under 30. Indeed, the targeting tells us more about the perceptions and prejudices of the advertiser than about the demographic they are going for. It's not cheap for them, either – a little research suggest an advertiser can pay as much as £3 per click for the search term "abortion" in the UK. If I were Facebook, I think I'd tighten up the rules around who sensitive adverts like this can target.
So, in short – if Facebook offers you an abortion and a wedding dress, it's not some brilliant algorithm working out you're pregnant; your dad isn't also being offered wedding rings and shotguns. It's just some ham-fisted but doubtless well meaning American patronising you.
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