Pharma Ads, Scrolling Text, and AdBlocker

[PeterTNYC]

Pharma ads in the US require a LOT of safety information that can be displayed only with scrolling text. How can this category of ads possibly fulfill the ABP criteria? Even if the main ad is static, there still needs to be pages of that scrolling legal text to support it.

I work in advertising, I believe in the mission of AB, but I don't know how to comply and still create ads for pharma clients that fulfill their legal requirements.

[greiner]

Which part of the criteria in particular are you referring to?

Do you have an example page where we can take a look at such an ad?

[PeterTNYC]

From here: https://eyeo.com/acceptable-ads-application.html

1. No animation, it has to be static
2. Preferably text-only
3. Labeled as ads
4. Clearly separated from the content

#1 is the troublesome criteria. Legal requires the safety information to automatically scroll.

I found an example banner with an auto-scrolling ISI (important safety information) for Trulicity on this page: http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/guide/default.htm (you may have to reload a few times before it rotates in.)

[lewisje]

I guess there's no way to make pharma ads acceptable, which is for the better IMO. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[greiner]

From here: https://eyeo.com/acceptable-ads-application.html

1. No animation, it has to be static
2. Preferably text-only
3. Labeled as ads
4. Clearly separated from the content

Note that the bullet points on the application form are merely guidelines. You can find the criteria at acceptable-ads#criteria

#1 is the troublesome criteria. Legal requires the safety information to automatically scroll.

I found an example banner with an auto-scrolling ISI (important safety information) for Trulicity on this page: http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/guide/default.htm (you may have to reload a few times before it rotates in.)

Unfortunately, I can't reproduce the example ad but since the criteria clearly state that "Animated ads" are not considered acceptable, auto-scrolling ads can not be part of Acceptable Ads.

[PeterTNYC]

It seems quite unfair. The entire US-based pharma industry's digital advertising cannot legally meet ABP's criteria. Like I said, I want my ads to be non-offensive, but this leaves no acceptable solution.

Is there any way to start an incentive that considers pharma banner requirements?

[greiner]

It seems quite unfair. The entire US-based pharma industry's digital advertising cannot legally meet ABP's criteria. Like I said, I want my ads to be non-offensive, but this leaves no acceptable solution.

Is there any way to start an incentive that considers pharma banner requirements?

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of what exactly those requirements are. Most of the documents I found online are either quite vague or only mention how information is commonly displayed. So there might be alternatives to auto-scrolling ads.

According to this document it appears to be not uncommon for such ads to use "rollover" or manual scrolling though.