The "certificate in terrorism" is from one "American Military University" offering degrees in such fields as "Intelligence Studies." It even offers an M.A. in Homeland Security!
The school, based in West Virginia, seems to offer only online courses, from two former FBI agents, one of whom is Professor David Wilson, who allegedly fudged evidence in the Oklahoma City trial.
Nice advertising.
jesvin
· 1 year ago
Hmm somebody is getting overzealous with their ad campaigns. Shopping and e-ducation sites are the biggest offenders, purchasing a LARGE number of keywords and advertising on these. They think terrorism and child abuse are hot topics to advertise on, leading to these unfortunate results. Google better pay attention or or else have this guy taking google ads a joke.
By the way your site seems slow. I blame it on those images, like the previous commenter
Rajesh Barnwal
· 1 year ago
Since there is no link to the landing page of the 'offensive' ads it's not very clear the actual intent of the ads. I am just wondering could it be possible that these courses might be related to something like how to combat terrorism! Just a thought!
Bobby Samson
· 1 year ago
I'm sorry Pete, but this is a silly post making a mountain out of a molehill.
I live in a terrorism-torn country and there's nothing offensive about that ad.
It's clearly a course in how to deal with terrorism, not how to be a terrorist.
Sumant
· 1 year ago
Pete, it's fairly obvious that some dumb SEM hack has used 'terrorism' as a keyword in his Adwords account, and promptly attached it to an ad with dynamic keyword insertion enabled. It's the kind of stuff Googlers try to catch, but now that a lot of it is automated, the false positives do come up. Unfortunately, the bulk of them are most egregious in nature. Nobody in their right minds would go out of their way to advertise certificates in terrorism.
Meanwhile, if the individual who spotted these ads had identified the advertiser through the landing page and notified Google, this problem would have been solved in virtually no time at all. Instead, we choose to point and laugh. Seriously.
Ahteram Uddin
· 1 year ago
With great power comes great responsibility!
Adwords enables us to reach millions globally in a fraction of second. I guess this medium deserves to be treated with great respect and of course "care".
This is not the first time that a misleading ad like this has created havoc. Something similar happened back in 2006 when the great wildlife expert Steve Irwin died http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/05/ebay_st...
Kai
· 1 year ago
as Sumant said, the advertiser chose to use dynamic keyword insertion in his ad so that whatever relevant keyword(s) are automatically inserted by google. see http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py...
I gave up on adsense because it repeatedly deliverd exactly the opposite of my blog content. I even blogged for a month on the relationship between the ads and what I was writing!
Arjun
· 1 year ago
Certificate in Terrorism??
Hope Osama aint recruting through Google.
Stronger filters necessary...
Denis Rasia
· 1 year ago
This is sick...
I cannot believe that Google does not have some kind of internal Alerts for strange ads.... oh well, still, it is money for them no?
Sumant
· 1 year ago
They do. It's not perfect, as you can see. It's a lot stronger than you'd imagine from this thread.
Sid
· 1 year ago
I am from India & Ibnlive.com is a very popular news site here & they are a big publisher networks too, they are a big publisher of Google ..I don't get the so called Don't be Evil" guys who claim to be, yes and to some say it's true the best player in Online Advertising World [Thanks to all those SEO's- the shameless glorified Google marketers ] can make such a mistake. After all its not just not any advertising startup, it's "Google" with best of the Web brains & search algo's should have thought the positives & negatives of http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py... . But well noways it seems Googleplex has more important projects & deadlines to meet at Wall Street!!
Sumant
· 1 year ago
Shabby, unintelligent and ignorant comment, Sid. A little more knowledge of the ecosystem would help before you go about dispensing the blame.
Mrutyunjay Pandey Trilochan
· 1 year ago
I agree with Sumant on this. Sid time to grow up.
With limited knowledge of this universe dont try to show off as you know what googleplex is up to.
Really sick comment.
AjiNIMC
· 1 year ago
It can also be a mistake from the poor PPC chap. It can be DKI (Dynamic keyword insertion). I think I missed the URL that was associated with the AD. Google doesn't check all the ads and keywords, they scan it using some algos and their team of adword checking guys check flagged one manually. Anyway a lot of techy talks. Such errors will always happen and nobody to blame.
So what's the problem? Do you want ads banned for the keyword 'fire' too? What about medical conditions? If someone is selling something not harmful or dangerous but related to a negative topic, you want the ad banned? What about the Time Magazine that they will make money off of putting this tragedy on the cover? Find a real problem to worry about.
Don
· 1 year ago
What's the controversy about? It advertises a university degree in terrorism studies, I don't see how that is offensive or inappropriate. Surely a computer allocates advertisements to webpages, I doubt if the google computers were out to offend people!
Chris Kieff
· 1 year ago
Is there a real difference between that and the faceless man you use on this blog to signify commenter's who've not uploaded a photo? I'm sure that "Diana Scimone" the second commenter here doesn't appreciate your showing her comment with a male image.
We're talking about shades of gray here. And surely your automatic insertion of a male image is not materially different than the injection of ads by Google. The difference being that you can easily fix your image insertion.
People who live in glass houses...
Pete
· 1 year ago
You're saying that a default placeholder image that looks more male than female (but which could actually be female, conceivably), and which is designed to be replaced by an image of the commenter if they so wish, is akin to terrorism?
I fail to see the connection.
ajay
· 1 year ago
Hey Pete doesn't the latest comments on your blog come on the top rather than end....
Librarian Resumes
· 1 year ago
Very sad about the news.. and more sad makes is google atleast these words should be red listed in their system for manual review.. and if ever now they are live the one placing this should be traced and hanged till death.. and the hanging video should be captured and youtubed and then that link should be put as ads with terrorist keywords.. so people see that and think what they should..!
Mehdi Jazni
· 1 year ago
Google adsence is always auto. i don't think so there was any person who check it manually !
goinglikesixty
· 1 year ago
Google should not attempt to throttle ads... as OP's have pointed out - these ads are not recruiting terrorists, they are recruiting terror fighters.
This is probably not a bad ad but an awfully worded ad. There should be better control over text displayed for sensitive keywords. Imagine what is the likelihood people assume the worst after reading such an ad given they are already disturbed with what is happening.
cj
· 1 year ago
Surely the site on which the ads are appearing bears a large part of the responsibulity for this. If you are carrying controversial topics, news items, accounts os serious and tragic events, then shouldn't you be asking yourself if keyword tiggered ads are appropriate for that sort of site.
Craig
· 1 year ago
WOW!! That is crazy!
Did anyone click on the link to see what the site may have been?
AJ
· 1 year ago
This isn't what it appears.
A quick google search (http://tinyurl.com/6ll4ul) (since we’re not told what the ad links to) turns up “Certificate in Terrorism Studies†at the University of St. Andrews, and this page has the exact same phrase, “100% online - Enrolling Now.†It’s obviously not a certificate in learning to be a terrorist, but one in studying, and, presumably, learning about deterring it.
There are similar programs at the University of Maryland and at the American Military University.
So, it sounds bad at first and makes a great sensational story (and this page turned up near the top on a google search for “terrorism in Mumbaiâ€), but it makes a BIG difference what the page actually is. Whoever posted this should have at least looked into it and clicked on the ad.
bz
· 1 year ago
Haha, you make me laugh! This is about TERRORISM STUDIES. Hahaha... Cause Al-Qaida will not accept you without a certificate! Think twice before writing an article dude.
Pete
· 1 year ago
It is quite obvious that this means "terrorism studies". Are you really that daft people?
colin
· 1 year ago
Actually - no - the fact that the ads are about terrorism studies, or anti-terrorist courses is entirely beside the point, the point being that the wording of the ads is insensitve in the context
Aalaap Ghag
· 1 year ago
The ads are not for aspiring terrorists to attain credibility. It's for students specializing in terrorism studies. I don't really see the reason for the outcry here, but yes, I do agree that the wording of the ad can be confusing to some.
Charl Pearce
· 1 year ago
WTF Google. To allow an ad like that to be created and live, bouncing around 'terrorist' tagged sites/searches is just sick. Did they do anything about this? I certainly hope so.
and about the young girl ads listed above, that's just wrong. I hope they resolve the issue for you ASAP or people may not take you seriously, which would be a shame.
Sid
· 1 year ago
yes I just meant that Google would be little careful but it seems some people [read some comments ]can't take a single criticism for google..they don't get that sometimes criticism's are for a better cause
Mrutyunjay Pandey Trilochan
· 1 year ago
Criticism is for better cause if made in a professional language. You abused the entire search marketing community calling them "shameless glorified Google marketers".
This proves that you are sick and are jealous of the success Search Marketers have achieved.
TMC
Sid
· 1 year ago
Well I am not jealous of so called SEO' s as there much much more to Web promotions than just juggling Google for some keywords
Sid
· 1 year ago
Well I am not jealous of so called SEO' s as there much much more to Web promotions than just juggling Google for some keywords..sorry to hurt UR community!!
Brian McNeil
· 1 year ago
Here comes another proof of ignorance from this illiterate dumb head Sid.
He thinks Google advertising is only about playing with the keywords. Mr.Trilochan was right you are sick.
Jo
· 1 year ago
Here's another one. I was suprised to see Grace Mugabe - middle left. I would be very surprised if she is NOT on the USA list of Zimbabwean's sanctioned by Zimbabwe.
that's wacked, they should be able to filter this easily.....
translation services
· 1 year ago
This shows how good is Google's ad targeting ;-)) even terrorists are free to advertise their services ;-)
Vamsi
· 1 year ago
Interesting! The automated/dynamic ads cant get worse than this and during this bad and sensitive times. Stronger filters please?
ajay
· 1 year ago
Hey guys i work for IBNLive.com and amazed to see this like you all are. Google adsense serving system perhaps needs better filters as well the Advertisers need be more cautious.
Had any one reported this on day of occurance, we could have probably filtered this ad on our end.
ajay
· 1 year ago
Moreover the ad as lot of people have commented is intended for Terrorism Studies.
I it so sad to say i can't do any thing at that time because i do anything to my country and my bother's. thank you.
terry
· 3 months ago
I think the bush administration held all the terrorist certifications that ad was offering.His administration engineered 911 to give them a reason to turn us into a police state.
All Comments
http://www.amu.apus.edu/terrorism-studies?GCID=...
The "certificate in terrorism" is from one "American Military University" offering degrees in such fields as "Intelligence Studies." It even offers an M.A. in Homeland Security!
The school, based in West Virginia, seems to offer only online courses, from two former FBI agents, one of whom is Professor David Wilson, who allegedly fudged evidence in the Oklahoma City trial.
Nice advertising.
By the way your site seems slow. I blame it on those images, like the previous commenter
I am just wondering could it be possible that these courses might be related to something like how to combat terrorism!
Just a thought!
I live in a terrorism-torn country and there's nothing offensive about that ad.
It's clearly a course in how to deal with terrorism, not how to be a terrorist.
Meanwhile, if the individual who spotted these ads had identified the advertiser through the landing page and notified Google, this problem would have been solved in virtually no time at all. Instead, we choose to point and laugh. Seriously.
Adwords enables us to reach millions globally in a fraction of second. I guess this medium deserves to be treated with great respect and of course "care".
This is not the first time that a misleading ad like this has created havoc. Something similar happened back in 2006 when the great wildlife expert Steve Irwin died http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/05/ebay_st...
see
http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py...
Hope Osama aint recruting through Google.
Stronger filters necessary...
I cannot believe that Google does not have some kind of internal Alerts for strange ads.... oh well, still, it is money for them no?
With limited knowledge of this universe dont try to show off as you know what googleplex is up to.
Really sick comment.
But now is the time to understand that there is Hindu, Muslim and Christian terror, I just posted it on my blog http://www.idealwebtools.com/blog/hindu-muslim-... (will appreciate your view point).
Regards,
Aji
We're talking about shades of gray here. And surely your automatic insertion of a male image is not materially different than the injection of ads by Google. The difference being that you can easily fix your image insertion.
People who live in glass houses...
I fail to see the connection.
This is probably not a bad ad but an awfully worded ad. There should be better control over text displayed for sensitive keywords. Imagine what is the likelihood people assume the worst after reading such an ad given they are already disturbed with what is happening.
Did anyone click on the link to see what the site may have been?
A quick google search (http://tinyurl.com/6ll4ul) (since we’re not told what the ad links to) turns up “Certificate in Terrorism Studies†at the University of St. Andrews, and this page has the exact same phrase, “100% online - Enrolling Now.†It’s obviously not a certificate in learning to be a terrorist, but one in studying, and, presumably, learning about deterring it.
There are similar programs at the University of Maryland and at the American Military University.
So, it sounds bad at first and makes a great sensational story (and this page turned up near the top on a google search for “terrorism in Mumbaiâ€), but it makes a BIG difference what the page actually is. Whoever posted this should have at least looked into it and clicked on the ad.
Hahaha... Cause Al-Qaida will not accept you without a certificate!
Think twice before writing an article dude.
and about the young girl ads listed above, that's just wrong. I hope they resolve the issue for you ASAP or people may not take you seriously, which would be a shame.
This proves that you are sick and are jealous of the success Search Marketers have achieved.
TMC
He thinks Google advertising is only about playing with the keywords. Mr.Trilochan was right you are sick.
http://www.dazzleyellowpages.com/local-white-pa...
The automated/dynamic ads cant get worse than this and during this bad and sensitive times.
Stronger filters please?
Google adsense serving system perhaps needs better filters as well the Advertisers need be more cautious.
Had any one reported this on day of occurance, we could have probably filtered this ad on our end.
thank you.
http://www.healthesmoke.webatu.com/1_8_product-...