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Google Changes Ads Policy as Health Care Advertisers Scramble to Adapt

By The SHSMD Team posted 02-24-2020 04:30 PM

  
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By: Kara Rozek, Jorge Cordova and Nate Clarkson

Facing mounting pressure to crack down on misinformation campaigns, Google implemented a new policy aimed at misleading health care ads, with evidence-based treatments inadvertently caught in the dragnet.

What is the core challenge?

Google cast a wide net in implementing a new policy against unproven medical procedures last month. The policy aims “to prohibit advertising for unproven or experimental medical techniques” applying across all ad serving platforms, with particular emphasis on “unproven or experimental medical techniques” including stem cell therapy, cellular (non-stem) therapy and gene therapy.

While aimed at unfounded claims and false promises, this position has inadvertently targeted legitimate evidence-based treatments (some of which are FDA-approved, such as CAR T-cell therapy) and critical clinical trials.

As a result of this policy change, various advertisers across the health care industry have reported ad disapprovals and some established medical research institutions that provide life-saving treatments have expressed concerns. Google’s advertising platforms play a crucial role putting valuable and relevant information in front of consumers who have revealed intent to learn more about symptoms and treatment for serious and life-threatening medical conditions.

There is more at stake than helping health care consumers find relevant and reliable information about health conditions and potential treatments. A recent study observed how searches related to health increased in the weeks before a visit for emergency care, possibly providing an opportunity to use Google search behavior in predictive modeling.

What is the Resolution?

There is reason to be hopeful this new policy will eliminate truly bad actors and leave room for legitimate medical research centers to share valuable information through Google’s ad platforms.

In the same blog post published to the Google Help page, Google Policy Advisor Adrienne Biddings acknowledged the importance of fostering pioneering research for life-saving medical treatment. “We know that there are good actors in this space as well, doing important research that may lead to major advances in medicine,” she said. “We’ll continue to allow advertising for research happening in this space for clinical trials and the ability for clinicians to promote their research findings to the public.”

In this latest attempt to eliminate ads for un-tested medical treatments, Google seems to have taken an approach that introduces a blanket ban while leaving the burden of proof on advertisers to appeal individually for special approval.

Agencies are in a good position to appeal these ad disapprovals thanks to the accumulation of specialized knowledge that comes from working across a full portfolio of clients. Individual advertisers, such as single hospitals or even health systems, may have found themselves less-equipped and with less robust relationships to successfully navigate the complex support hierarchy of a tech giant of Google’s size.

Kara Rozek, VP, group media director; Jorge Cordova, digital media director; Nate Clarkson, digital media manager: SPM Marketing & Communications
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