Inappropriate ads

[Donzella]

After the condom ad fiasco I would think Spotify would scrutinize their ads a little better. The current ad for lingerie and sex stuff is not what I want playing at work or with the kids around. There the kids were, listening to THE BIBLE of all things and this ad for valentines day sex stuff comes on. Our consideration for a premium account died right there. I can't and won't pay for an account without assurance that a better ad policy is in place. 

[thewise1]

I listen to mostly Christian music while I work from home with kids ranging from 2-13 years of age. It's ridiculous that we can be listening to this music, maybe singing along with hymns for family worship even, and then a trojan ad comes on. Seriously?

I completely understand the need for ads to support the service. But this is just inappropriate.

And from a quick search I see I'm not the only one who has noted this. What gives, guys? Do I need to find a different service?

[Brotuulaan]

I am completely in agreement with this thread. I've been a Spotify user for several years now, and I've been mostly fine until recently. Last week, I started getting the condom commercials in the mix. I'm interning full-time at a church right now, and that is a most inappropriate place for these ads to be going off--especially since they have a day-care center here through the week and there are plenty of kids around from plenty of different families. I can't turn the volume down or the ad pauses. That's smart on the business side, but if I don't want to be bombarded with ads about condoms, should I really be forced to either purchase a subscription or stop using Spotify? Is that really the culture they want to create, one in which you pay for protection? I don't think so. That reminds me of another "business" that gets the crackdown when it's exposed and not feared by the law. I know, it's not the same kind of "protection," but the idea is the same.

[Joe]

Hardly a reasonable comparison. You have an alternative to paying a subscription.

[Peter__]

Hey! Welcome to the community 🙂 

Unfortunately, Spotify do not offer any way to filter the adverts you get on your account, but be sure to add your vote to this feature request topic. I don't work for Spotify, so this isn't a sales pitch but an unlimited subscription would remove all of those adverts. 

Peter

[xnyer]

The ads I notice lately are mostly either for fast food or more stations and more services from Spotify.  Since I have not succeeded in getting Spotify's program to play or save the albums it notifies me that it has in its memory unless I continually press with a finger their button to continue play, and as it seems happy, for instance, to let me establish a Beatles "station" that contains only notional Beatles recordings, it becomes vanishingly reasonable that the software has the slightest idea how to  adjust  advertising to the tastes or preferences of members of any demographic group of subscribers.  In short, the bots rot. I note that the spell check installed on Spotify is unable to recognize the terms "Spotify" or "Spotify's".  Clever or not?

[jimmcnic]

I'm in the UK and I too have Christian music playlists - I use them to help me prepare to play on a Sunday morning.

We don't get the Trojan adverts but get Durex instead. I have no problem with adverts but these are completely inappropriate for this type of playlist.

Surely it isn't rocket science to categorize the adverts and filter them out of playlists where they are inappropriate.

[Sam]

thewise1 & jimmcnic - I've moved your posts over here, so we can gather all the feedback in one place. This way, it's easier to pass onto the relevant personnel.

I'm very sorry if you've taken offence to these ads. We really don't want to offend anyone. It's worth mentioning, however, that Spotify is for personal use only. If your age is 18+ in your account, we have to assume that it's you listening, not someone younger. If the age in your account is under 18, you should not be hearing ads like this at all.

[xnyer]

The fact that you cannot seem to spell "offense" says a lot about your general level of awareness.  Maybe if your spent more time with a dictionary and less with those performance-enhancing condoms you would improve your intellectual capacity.

[Sam]

I'm in the UK. It's offence over here.

[Peter__]

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@Sam wrote:

I'm in the UK. It's offence over here.

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^ He is right 🙂 

Also, since it is called "English" that is how it is spelt haha (jokes, lets not start that argument) 😛 

Peter

[Liam]

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@xnyer wrote:

The fact that you cannot seem to spell "offense" says a lot about your general level of awareness.  Maybe if your spent more time with a dictionary and less with those performance-enhancing condoms you would improve your intellectual capacity.

---

offence

realise

colour

Happy?

[vonSeightlur]

...what gives? As of only four days ago this was (supposedly) no longer an issue.

This morning I was playing songs from a Christian "Praise and Worship" band in the living room for my family (including young-ish kids) when the album was interrupted by a condom ad.

I've heard the Trojan ads pop up from time to time, and it's annoying... but I'm definitely noticing a pattern. Whenever I'm listening to "really Christian" music like this, I pretty much only get either Spotify house ads or condom ads. (My guess is no advertisers are targeting this music genre, and Durex-or-whoever-it-is just has some really broad ad spend.)

Either way... c'mon. *sigh*

[Sam]

vonSeightlur - That thread you mention is from January (the US/UK date format might be the issue there). I've moved your post over here so we can forward all the feedback to the relevant team. I'm sorry if any offence was caused.

[coreyddavis]

My kids/family were using Spotify this morning, and an ad came on with a lot of cursing in it.

How do we keep this from happening again? 

Thanks.

[Elsalvador]

I think ALL the ads are inappropriate 😉

[Joe]

I agree. Strike back now and take out a subscription!

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@Elsalvador wrote:

I think ALL the ads are inappropriate 😉

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[senorabunn]

I play Spotify for my students. As a foreign language (high school) teacher it is so much easier to find songs that meet curriculum and state standards needs on Spotify than to download/purchase individual songs...plus it is easier to encourage students to listen to the songs on their own Spotify....which is a plus for both Spotify and the students.

In the middle of work time an ad for beer pops up. 

I know on my account I gave my age as over 21...but there are others listening who should not be hearing these. Perhaps a section in the account settings to select what ads you are or are not interested in....other sites do this...I'm assuming with success. 

Example...I would select ads for UNIVERSITIES, movies, and other products teens use (legally). 

Underage drinking, sex, drugs are a big enough problem without them hearing about it in between songs. 

[xnyer]

There are some new Spotify ads for Spotify in which the rapper (is that the correct term?) refers to females in the most derogatory way.  Surely, with the wealth of material the site claims to have at its disposal, they could choose a less offensive bit of performance to promote the artistry of this creep...I mean, performer.  

[rosypandaluv619]

i couldnt have said it better

[Leila_H]

I have now taken a difference approach. I have contacted directly one of the advertisers – I cannot be profiled their future customer (no plans to have more babies) and the same advertisement is listed as one of the most hated advertisement in teenage girl discussion board (hopefully they will wait for 10 years or so).  I asked what Spotify sold them, how they promised to profile customers and are they charged by the “click” or in this case by the number of played adds. This should be of interest of any business and soon also Spotify’s concern.