Tsunami relief efforts blocked?

Tsunami relief fund

[Corey]

Two days ago a legitimate non-profit organization that helps orphans contacted me to do Internet Marketing to increase awareness with the potential of raising more funds for the tsunami orphans.

I was happy to help and up for the challenge.

I was able to bid on several terms on Overture and they were up in less than a day, for which I am very grateful.

However, for the life of me, I can't get an AdWords ad up. I have created a new account and had it active for two days. It now shows one impression. I'm bidding on dozens of common phrases that I've typed into Google personally, such as Tsunami victims and Tsunami children. Nothing comes up.

I have also tried adding an ad group to my currently active AdWords account.

I've tried calling over there and only get a voice mail.

This is quite disturbing because I have checked all my settings and everything is set right. We've done dozens of campaigns for clients and have never seen this with Google. Also, there was a great CNN report tonight on Tsunami orphan children that could have raised awareness for my client.

Are they putting some sort of hold on Tsunami keywords in an attempt to filter out "losers" that are trying to rip off the unwary? If so, how can I reach someone to help my legitimate organization.

Help please?

Corey Creed
Hippo Internet Marketing

[FromRocky]

Your ad may be automatically put on hold for review. One thing for sure is whenever you use the word children in your keyword, the ad will be on hold for review.

[Corey]

That could be it. But why does it not say that anywhere? Is there not a status that shows "pending review" or something like that?

[HitProf]

You could try emailing Adwords support with high priority mail. Include all details including customer ID and login email address. Also try the diagnostics tool, located at [adwords.google.com...]

[HarryM]

It may be under review because of the number of vultures trying to take advantage of the situation. There have been reported incidents of the child sex-trade taking advantage of the situation. There was also a scam reported in the UK where a pseudo-charity advertised for donations for Tsunami relief, possibly from the same people who are behind the Nigerian money laundering scams.

In the UK a single freephone telephone number has been set up for donations, and everybody is encouraged to use that. People are also encouraged to ensure that any organisation they wish to donate to is listed as registered on the Charity Commision's web site.

[Corey]

Thanks for the tip. I have left voice mail and sent a support tag. We'll see what happens.

I really wish I could get a human somehow. But then again, I guess everyone does, right?

I'll keep trying.

[Corey]

Update: I finally reached someone at AdWords. They explained that my keywords were flagged. It typically takes three days for them to be reviewed. It has been two already. I requested that they rush this one a little due to the situation.

I hope to see my ads live by the end of today.

Corey