Health care products maker Johnson & Johnson and automaker General Motors Co. are among the latest companies to halt advertising on YouTube after concerns that Google is not doing enough to ensure brands' ads are not appearing near terrorist content.
New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson said in a statement last week that it has decided to "pause all YouTube digital advertising globally to ensure our product advertising does not appear on channels that promote offensive content."
"We take this matter very seriously and will continue to take every measure to ensure our brand advertising is consistent with our brand values," the company said.
Detroit-based GM said Friday that it was suspending targeted ads on YouTube "until Google can adhere to our brand standards."
That same day, beverage maker PepsiCo said it had taken "immediate steps to remove all advertising from non-search platforms until Google can absolutely ensure that this will not happen again."
"We are deeply concerned and terribly disappointed that some of our brand ads have appeared alongside videos that promote hate and are offensive," the Purchase, N.Y., company said in a statement.
The uproar comes after a recent investigation by Britain's The Times showed how ordinary ads appeared alongside user-uploaded YouTube videos that promote hate and extremism.
The British government, along with local advertisers, suspended ad purchases following the report.
Last week, U.S. companies began following suit, with giants such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and rental car firm Enterprise Holdings Inc. announcing that they will halt or reduce deals with Google, which owns YouTube.
Google said it doesn't comment on individual customers, but that the search engine giant has begun an "extensive review" of its advertising policies and will make changes to give brands more control over where their ads appear.
"While we recognize that no system will be 100 percent perfect, we believe these major steps will further safeguard our advertisers' brands and we are committed to being vigilant and continuing to improve over time," Google said in a statement.
