Allowed ads

Does AdWords allow anti-company ads?

[Jhet]

I am hoping someone here will have some experience with this or knowledge of what AdWords will do. Ignoring the possibility of legal recourse against the individual, I have a question specifically on what AdWords will allow.

If a company has a dissatisfied client and that client has decided to take things to an extreme by creating a website dedicated to expressing his dissatisfaction, will AdWords allow him to purchase ads for his site targeting the company name but not using trademarks in the ad text? Also, is this against any of the AdWords policies?

Thanks in advance!

[trannack]

Really not sure on this one. I would suggest you ask Adwords before taking any further action on this. I guess it could be deemed slanderous.

[Jhet]

Thank you for the reply.

I have asked AdWords through their 'contact' page but I have not received a response as of yet.

The content of the site is definitely libelous, fraudulent, defamatory and a few other legal words to boot :) The courts take time and money, however. If it was a clear violation of AdWords ToS it would only take a phone call and persistence.

[trannack]

Jhet - stick the domain name in your user profile so we can take a peek - give you some moral support perhaps.

[Jhet]

Unfortunately I can't do that at this time. Maybe once things settle down and the guy decides to stop the mudslinging but until then I have to bite my tongue on the specifics.

[beren]

My guess is yes. As long as the ad doesn't use trademarked words. And as long as the target site doesn't include pornography or hate speech or other prohibited things. I doubt saying bad things about a company counts as hate speech. Google will have to make the call, though.