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Article

28 Jun 2013

Author:
Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC

M&S and BSkyB threaten Facebook boycott over adverts [UK]

Facebook is in urgent talks to try to appease two of Britain's major advertisers after they suspended all or part of their spending with the site. Marks and Spencer and BSkyB told Facebook they had serious concerns about their advertising appearing next to "inappropriate" content...[A]n M&S...advert was placed on a Facebook page called "cute and gay boys". The page featured photographs of teenage boys...Both companies said they were keen to use Facebook again, but needed to be sure that their advertising would not appear next to offensive content, or material that might reflect poorly on their brands...It is understood that the social network could make an announcement later on Friday clarifying how it planned to change its advertising system to deal with the current concerns. Earlier this month, Facebook was forced to act against misogynist content on its site after protests from women's groups led some advertisers to suspend campaigns.