e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Mr. Romney, Meet Gay.com

November 7th, 2007

Finally, someone on the Republican side (other than Ron Paul) is exploring new ground online: a great article in the today’s Times looks at how some Mitt Romney online display ads showed up on sites that the campaign didn’t exactly plan for, including Gay.com. Big tent indeed! Apparently, Advertising.com’s content filters didn’t work quite as planned, allowing the ads to end up on sites that the Romney campaign would have preferred to avoid. This brief bout of lifestyle experimentation doesn’t seem to be scaring them away from online advertising networks, though, according to Facebook-friend-of-e.politics Mindy Finn:

Mr. Romney’s campaign said the Gay.com spot had been placed in spite of a request to keep its ads off dating and alternative lifestyle sites, a request that may have been lost in communication with Advertising.com. (Aides said they also asked that Romney ads be kept off Web pages with pornographic images, gambling or left-leaning political content.)

Ms. Finn said the Romney campaign was becoming more careful, sticking to more artfully chosen “subnetworks” within the Advertising.com system.

“We have learned,” she said. “It provides a danger, but there is also incredible opportunity.”

C’mon, Mitt! There’s a potential Romney ARMY waiting in the ranks of gay porn aficionados (I’d make a niche-audience joke, but that might be considered in bad taste). Thanks to Alicia LaPorte for the tip, though she’s probably regretting it now.

– cpd

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