An emotive campaign by UK charity, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), has incurred the displeasure of Facebook, which has banned it from its site.
The 'See the Need' video - which has clocked up nearly 58,000 views on YouTube - features a woman becoming progressively more upset as a voiceover tells her how she is to lose her sight.
“You’ll fear for your job, your home, your life. You’ll see everyone losing their sight needs the right support," goes the voiceover.
The RNIB received word via email from Facebook's ads team stating it transgressed language guidelines in that its ad could be seen as "profane, vulgar, threating or generating high negative feedback", according to The Guardian.
“We’ve found that people dislike ads that directly address them or their personal characteristics. Ads should not single out individuals or degrade people. We don’t accept language like ‘fear of losing your sight, losing your job’ and the like.
"Instead, text must present realistic and accurate information in a neutral or positive way and should not have any direct attribution to people," Facebook's ads team said.
Facebook, however, was keen to point out there is a clear distinction to be made between content and advertising, with different guidelines applying.
Speaking to AdNews, a Facebook spokesperson said adverts are mostly disallowed due to having too much text in the image, but it was important to be aware that not approving ads, is far different to Facebook content.
"The content people see in their news feed is largely chosen by who they are friends with and the pages and brands that they follow. We have more stringent guidelines for advertising as we push this to the audience. Before ads show up on Facebook, they’re reviewed to make sure they meet our advertising policies," the Facebook spokesperson said.
The RNIB's marketing and communications group head, Natasha Dickinson,said she was perplexed, as she was still not sure what they did wrong.
"Facebook is the world’s biggest social media site and it would be great to see them working with, and not against, charities," Dickinson told The Guardian.
Facebook said the majority of ads that fall foul of their advertising guidelines tend to be those which don't adhere to their 20% text rule, or those that come from clients being evasive about their targeting.
Facebook's advertising policies are available on its site. A storm in a tea cup or the right decision? Comment below and let us know your views.
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