Several months ago, Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey and Southern Comfort liquor, hired Internet ad company DoubleClick to place banner ads on Web sites that would reach its typical drinker. Some of the Internet sites chosen, like the Food Network and getmusic.com, draw traffic that includes a cross section of the alcohol maker's consumers.
Oops: A clerical error
With DoubleClick placing more than 1.5 billion ads on the Internet each day, there are bound to be some mistakes in placements, Isay says. He contends that the ads at issue represented "0.00001 percent" of the entire ads placed during that period. "DoubleClick has an amazing record of accuracy," he adds.
Another DoubleClick client, Finlandia Vodka, also ended up advertising on Comics.com in the fall, according to Leading Web Advertisers, which monitors online ads.
Executives for Finlandia, owned by the Finnish government, say they were unaware that ads for the liquor had been placed on Comics.com until contacted by The Wall Street Journal. "We wouldn't be that stupid to advertise to kids," says Tom Venho, who heads up Finlandia's global brand management. DoubleClick's Isay says that his company doesn't dispute that the ads ran on the site but adds that DoubleClick has no record of Finlandia ads appearing on Comics.com.
The perils of posting
Some of the bigger alcoholic-beverage advertisers, including Anheuser-Busch Cos., Philip Morris Cos.' Miller Brewing and Seagram Co., have advertised mostly on sites like Playboy Online and CBS Sportsline, where they are counting on a majority of the audience to be over the legal drinking age. An Anheuser-Busch spokesman says it handpicks the sites and uses third-party research to determine the demographics of those sites to be "reasonably" assured that they get "adult eyeballs" to look at their advertising.
Treading lightly
A Brown-Forman executive cringed after learning that its whiskey ads ran next to ads for the Snoopy Shop. "I was horrified," says Charles Zug, the firm's vice president of interactive marketing. He specified in his order to DoubleClick that Jack Daniel's banner ads run on sites aimed at people of drinking age.
The Jack Daniel's ads appeared on age-appropriate sites but also, dozens of times, on Comics.com, according to Leading Web Advertisers and DoubleClick. The ads were part of a "crack Jack's safe" contest with an award of $100,000 in silver dollars. The banners included links to the Jack Daniel's home page, with a request: "We have to ask that only folks of legal drinking age go beyond this point."
Mardi Gras promo
Brown-Forman's Zug says the company receives reports from DoubleClick on the number of consumers that click onto its ads and its Web sites. The report didn't indicate that the ads were on Comics.com.
DoubleClick's Isay says the Jack Daniel's ad on Comics.com went unnoticed for weeks because a report where such a problematic juxtaposition would normally be spotted listed only the name of Brown-Forman's ad agency and the site. Late last month, a DoubleClick employee made the connection that it was an alcohol maker advertising on Comics.com. Because of the error, and to make sure it doesn't happen again, Isay says DoubleClick intends to designate one individual to handle traffic for sensitive advertisers like alcohol.
So far, no alcohol producers or Web sites have been cited for inappropriate placement of ads on the Web, says a spokesman for the Federal Trade Commission. Still, the agency has issued guidelines and has asked for self-regulation from alcohol advertisers.
A
The glitches illustrate the power and the pitfalls of the Internet as a new ad medium. The Web, with countless niche sites, can help advertisers quickly target millions of viewers. At the same time, gaffes such as sending ads to inappropriate Web sites can create a nightmare for an advertiser like alcohol makers and distributors.
Michael Kubin, co-chief executive of Leading Web Advertisers, a Web site that monitors online advertising, says there are only a handful of alcohol advertisers on the Web and most of them appear to be treading lightly to avoid controversy. "They want to make sure that whatever move they make is not going to turn them into a lightning rod," says Kubin, who headed up a region of Interpublic Group's giant media-buying company before moving to the Web.
Banner ads for Southern Comfort ran at least 10 times in February and early March on Comics.com, according to the New York-based Leading Web Advertisers. The ads promoted Mardi Gras drinks in late February through early March.
