News articles detailing recent domestic violence incidents in Australia inadvertently ran alongside advertisements for faux-bloodstained shirts, prompting calls for a review of publishing and advertising practices. The shirts, some bearing the phrase “problem solved”, were displayed on several Australian news websites on Sunday.
The ad placements coincided with a surge in family and domestic violence incidents in Australia, including the alleged murders of three women on Saturday and a mother allegedly stabbing her three children on Sunday. Experts in media and gendered violence, such as Denise Buiten from the University of Notre Dame Australia, stated that the ad placement created an inappropriate contrast and stripped dignity from the news stories.
Patty Kinnersly, chief executive of Our Watch, an advocacy group, said the unexpected ads could distress victim-survivors and “make light” of violence. She urged media outlets and advertisers to review the incident and implement stronger measures to protect consumers from potentially harmful advertising mismatches.
The Guardian, among other outlets that featured the ad, stated it breached their advertising guidelines and was removed once identified. Nine, parent company of The Sydney Morning Herald, attributed its publication to Google-run AdSense, which they said is responsible for screening such ads. News.com.au’s editor, Kerry Warren, confirmed their parent company, News Corp, was working with the third-party provider to prevent a recurrence of the “error”.
A Google spokesperson said the company reviews ads under its policies and allows publishers to impose further limits. Christopher Brown from the University of New South Wales suggested the ads, tagged as clothing, may have “slipped through a crack” in screening measures or that content-targeting software could have miscalculated.