Facebook Rejects Ad for Lesbian Film 'And Then Came Lola'
by Boo Jarchow | Article Date: 04/24/2009 1:35 PM
Facebook has mysteriously rejected an advertisement for the Fast Girl Film's project And Then Came Lola, which stars Jill Bennett, Ashleigh Sumner, and Cathy DeBuono. The photo depicts the three lesbians in what coproducer Ellen Seidler calls the "sandwich shot," a sexy but by no means gratuitous shot of three women holding each other.
Of course, the social networking zeitgeist Facebook employs a slew of guidelines that ads must adhere to in order to be used, but apparently they only apply those guidelines part of the time. Those in charge of Facebook ads rejected the And Then Came Lola advertisement on the following basis:
"The image of this ad is either irrelevant or inappropriate. Per sections 3 and 8 of Facebook's Advertising Guidelines, the image on your ad should be relevant and appropriate to the item being advertised. Make sure your image is directly relevant to what you are advertising. Images that are overly explicit, provocative, or that reveal too much skin are not allowed. Images that may either degrade or idealize any health condition or body type are also not allowed. If you choose to submit this ad again, please use an appropriate image that adheres to all of Facebook's Advertising Guidelines."
Here is the Add submitted to Facebook:
Seidler told SheWired that she was using targeted Facebook ads only, which means the And Then Came Lola ads would only appear on pages of women interested in women and women over 18 years of age.
In the Ads FAQ section on Facebook, regarding image disapproval gives a link to the Advertising Guidelines, where they say:
"Facebook is committed to protecting our user experience by keeping the site clean, uncluttered, and free from intrusive advertising. We believe that we can help transform existing advertising on Facebook into tailored messages to our users, because they are based on how their friends interact and affiliate with the brands, music artists, and businesses they care about."
On the Facebook Page for the film, screen grabs of advertisements with straight people shirtless, making out, and in comparable positions to the And Then Came Lola ad are posted. Some ads Facebook has accepted include women's bare legs, one woman swapping spit with a man, and even blood, are all approved. A status update for the film's Page made a point with the question that "blood is ok, but smiles aren't?"
Facebook has mysteriously rejected an advertisement for the Fast Girl Film's project And Then Came Lola, which stars Jill Bennett, Ashleigh Sumner, and Cathy DeBuono. The photo depicts the three lesbians in what coproducer Ellen Seidler calls the "sandwich shot," a sexy but by no means gratuitous shot of three women holding each other.
Of course, the social networking zeitgeist Facebook employs a slew of guidelines that ads must adhere to in order to be used, but apparently they only apply those guidelines part of the time. Those in charge of Facebook ads rejected the And Then Came Lola advertisement on the following basis:
"The image of this ad is either irrelevant or inappropriate. Per sections 3 and 8 of Facebook's Advertising Guidelines, the image on your ad should be relevant and appropriate to the item being advertised. Make sure your image is directly relevant to what you are advertising. Images that are overly explicit, provocative, or that reveal too much skin are not allowed. Images that may either degrade or idealize any health condition or body type are also not allowed. If you choose to submit this ad again, please use an appropriate image that adheres to all of Facebook's Advertising Guidelines."
Here is the Add submitted to Facebook:
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
Seidler told SheWired that she was using targeted Facebook ads only, which means the And Then Came Lola ads would only appear on pages of women interested in women and women over 18 years of age.
In the Ads FAQ section on Facebook, regarding image disapproval gives a link to the Advertising Guidelines, where they say:
"Facebook is committed to protecting our user experience by keeping the site clean, uncluttered, and free from intrusive advertising. We believe that we can help transform existing advertising on Facebook into tailored messages to our users, because they are based on how their friends interact and affiliate with the brands, music artists, and businesses they care about."
On the Facebook Page for the film, screen grabs of advertisements with straight people shirtless, making out, and in comparable positions to the And Then Came Lola ad are posted. Some ads Facebook has accepted include women's bare legs, one woman swapping spit with a man, and even blood, are all approved. A status update for the film's Page made a point with the question that "blood is ok, but smiles aren't?"
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
posted by cathy@cathydebuono.com at
9:06 PM
8 Comments:
Outrageous… I feel like quoting Martin Luther King: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity".
I also think we should not stand silent on this… how about if each of us writes a kind of a protest email do Facebook???
Alex
I just cancelled my account with them. My reason for leaving was their advertising policy.
Kinda makes me wonder which part of said ad was "explicit, provocative, or reveals too much skin" is it really referring too when overall content on Facebook can be that and more without going into advertising content.
Boo on them.
omg what? lol i have this pic up as my profile pic. a random girl msg'd me after seeing it and is now my friend. that is how i will advertise ur movie cathy! keep up the good work, u and jill r hot
I have only been recently following this site (and Jill's) but have been very entertained and pleased with what I have seen so far. Anyway, with regard to this post, this appeared on AOL this morning amd thought others might be interested in checking it out.
http://www.switched.com/2009/04/27/facebook-rejects-lesbian-film-ad/?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.switched.com%2F2009%2F04%2F27%2Ffacebook-rejects-lesbian-film-ad%2F
It's not much but it's something and hopefully gets the word out a little bit more, despite the homophobic responses posted as comments to the article. I have to say I am still really surprised (and saddened) at how little it takes for people to feel threatened. With everything in the media we are exposed to every day and this is one the of the things that draws such a negative focus? I still have hope that someday things like this will be a non-issue but I certainly won't hold my breath. Sigh.....
Geez, first Amazon and now Facebook??? Apparently they haven't gotten the memo that the country's attitudes are changing dramatically. Everyone should send them an email that they ought to be ashamed for being so openly homophobic and censoring content they don't personally like.
AOL survey about ATCL ad:
Do you think this ad is too racy for Facebook?
Yes 7437 (41.4%)
No 9987 (55.5%)
I'm not sure. 560 (3.1%)
Carmen
FB reversed their rejection!!! See Cathy's blog: http://www.andthencamelolablog.com/
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home