It’s almost time to vote, and for many marketers that also means it’s time to think about election ads. Yes, some inventory costs will jump—especially on TV—and some ads will probably encounter hurdles or rejections. We’re here to help you understand the platform policy landscape surrounding ads and approvals during this crazy time. And it doubles as a handy guide for users who want to understand why their social feeds look the way they do.
Meta
The social giant has plastered this warning all over the place: “Advertisers won’t be able to create and run new ads about social issues, elections or politics in the US from Tuesday, November 1 until Tuesday, November 8, 2022.” And the platform means it. If it’s even close, it will err on the side of judging your ad as political and you will need an approved label stating who paid for the ad.
Although Meta now provides guidelines for how they define ads on “social issues,” in practice it defines them more broadly and you should expect to have to fight for approvals and to need a label.
Bottom line: Submit ads dealing with social issues as early as possible, even light corporate social responsibility (or “CSR”) posts.
Although politics are probably a better fit for moving the needle on Twitter than most other content you might want to promote on the platform, such promotions have been banned since 2019.
They also define political content far more clearly: “We define political content as content that references a candidate, political party, elected or appointed government official, election, referendum, ballot measure, legislation, regulation, directive, or judicial outcome.”
Bottom line: If you have clients in politics, focus on their organic distribution here. And don’t worry about their flagging your CSR content.
P.S.–Elon’s deal, if it happens, won’t go through in time to change this.
TikTok
The fast-growing vertical video platform has always tried to play it safe on content guidelines, and this is no different. They don’t allow political ads. However, some critics have alleged the platform’s controls were too loose in the past, and it has vowed to try to correct this by adding staff and using accredited fact-checkers.
Bottom line: Don’t promote political candidates or election issues on TikTok. Your typical content and CSR efforts are probably safe here.
In one sense, it’s hard to see why anyone would want to promote a candidate via Pins—since, unlike Twitter, that’s not really why people use it. On the other hand, it’s a pretty clear demographic and politics is still practiced as a demographics game. That said, political ads are fully prohibited.
The platform’s gray area is also clear. It disallows ads for “political issues with the intent to influence an election.”
Bottom line: Political advertisers looking to inspire women between the ages of 30 to 50 will just have to find another avenue. Though not recommended, your CSR ads are safe on Pinterest.
Snapchat
It’s allowed! Like Meta, political advertisers have to jump through hoops to get a “paid for by” label approved, but then such ads are fair game.
How does it draw the boundaries of what is political beyond the obvious cases? The platform states, “Issue or advocacy ads are ads concerning issues or organizations that are the subject of debate on a local, national, or global level, or of public importance. They include ads about abortion, immigration, the environment, education, discrimination, and guns.”
Bottom line: Expect ads to be flagged as political if they touch on hot issues, and leave lots of time for approvals.
YouTube
Not only does Google allow such ads, but they’re also hard to avoid. There is a process to get approved for running political ads, which it says can take up to five days.
Gray areas? Not so much. If you aren’t advertising for a candidate, you’ll just have to make sure you’re navigating its 10,000 other policy restrictions. Google’s got a lot of rules, but it has been at this the longest and it shows.
Bottom line: Candidates and Political Action Committees are going to buy a lot of YouTube ads, and Google will compete for some TV dollars. Your CSR ads will be safe here, though probably pricier.
In Short
Get ready for people to get mad at Meta again. If you’re an advertiser with CSR content, leave plenty of time to get your “paid for by” label all squared away. It’s not worth fighting with Meta over what is political. Consider launching CSR content very early, or even delaying some CSR content and launching after things wind down.
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