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Gucci Pulls ‘Blackface’ Sweater; Bud Light Says Corn Syrup Isn’t Bad; Fraudsters Target Ads.txt |
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This newsletter doesn’t intentionally focus on marketers pulling products because they offended people. It just keeps happening.
Gucci is the latest case, “deeply apologizing” for selling an $890 black balaclava sweater that covers the nose and has a cut-out for the wearer’s mouth that’s lined in red. It looks like blackface. “We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond,” Gucci said.
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Bud Light’s salvo against rivals, a letter from from its “king” helpfully translating corn syrup as “dextrose.” PHOTO: AB INBEV VIA TWITTER
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After Miller Lite pointed out that there’s no corn syrup in its beer, contrary to Bud Light’s implication in its Super Bowl attack ads, Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch InBev said there’s nothing wrong with corn syrup anyway.
“To be clear, we are not saying corn syrup is bad, we just don’t use it in Bud Light,” the company told Ad Age. “It’s a less expensive ingredient and we think a quality light lager only should include the best ingredients.”
It’s surprising to see an affordable brand link price so tightly with quality, but executives are trying to have it both ways in any case: Also on Wednesday, Bud Light tweeted a letter from its “Dilly Dilly” king associating rivals with dextrose for good measure.
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Buyers can check websites' Ads.txt files to see whether a given seller is authorized, but the trail can still be hard to follow. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
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The ad industry created Ads.txt to combat ad fraud, so now fraudsters are busily combating Ads.txt.
The newest scam involves selling ads on spoofed sites through resellers that were listed as approved in the real sites’ Ads.txt files. Heading it off would have required the resellers, not just the ultimate buyers, to scrutinize their inventory suppliers for bad actors.
“The further down the longtail of resellers, aggregators and ad networks you go, the looser the processes are,” said Roy Rosenfeld at DoubleVerify, which detected the scheme.
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| What’s German for ‘Facepalm’? |
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PHOTO: SASCHA STEINBACH/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Germany ordered Facebook to stop combining data it collects about Germans’ use of apps and websites across the internet without user consent, striking at key capabilities that Facebook offers advertisers. Facebook uses its data on users to let marketers target them in highly specific ways.
The order from Germany’s top antitrust enforcer also says Facebook can’t assign data gathered from company-owned apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram to Facebook accounts without user consent, and if consent isn’t given, the data can only be used within the scope of those apps. Facebook plans to appeal.
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"I don't want to have a child 15 years from now sitting in a therapist's office saying my parents made me take pictures every day.”
| — Bee Fisher, whose family has 203,000 Instagram followers, on raising “kidfluencers” |
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Publicis Groupe agencies are suffering along with consumer-goods marketers, CEO Arthur Sadoun said as the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results that reverberated around Madison Avenue. [WSJ]
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YouTube is done chipping in on agencies’ costs to ensure brand safety for advertisers on its platform. [Business Insider]
Tech such as cold-brew tap systems and high-tech espresso makers is playing a central role in upgrading the Dunkin’ brand, executives say. [WSJ CIO Journal]
MoviePass no longer demands a cut of theaters’ popcorn and soda revenue as it tries to recover from a horrible year. [The Ringer]
Spotify CEO Daniek Ek predicted that “over time,” about 20% of all Spotify listening will comprise something other than music—like podcasts, where licensing fees are lower and margins are higher. [NYT]
Hulu says its world-record-breaking-egg PSA became the service’s second-most-watched episode within 12 hours. [Adweek]
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Yesterday I said Snap reported record quarterly revenue but incorrectly put the total at $389.8 billion. That should have read “million.” If I my typo really reflected reality, Snap would have turned in more than 10 times Alphabet’s latest revenue.
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We bring you the most important (and intriguing) marketing news every day. Write me at nat.ives@wsj.com any time with feedback on the newsletter or comments on specific items. We want to hear from you.
And follow the CMO Today team on Twitter: @wsjCMO, @natives, @larakiara, @alexbruell.
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