美广告行业协会要求不在流氓网站投广告

    上周四，全美广告主联盟（The Association of National Advertisers）和美国广告代理商协会（American Association of Advertising Agencies）发布了 “最佳操守声明”，呼吁广告客户不要在盗版网站上发布广告。这一声明也得到了美国互动广告局（Interactive Advertising Bureau）的支持。《广告周刊》（Adweek）称这项声明是朝着打击盗版迈出的“重要一步”。不过，实际效果可能有限。

    根据这一声明，营销人员应该在合同和插播广告协议中明确阐明，不在那些传播盗版音乐和视频的“流氓”网站上投放广告。对于从没上过流氓网站的人们来说，这听起来或许是个好主意——打到了流氓网站的痛处，掐住了它们的经济命脉。但如果你曾经上过Pirate Bay或其他此类网站，你就知道“最佳操守”绝非是在此类网站上打广告的公司首要考虑的问题。

    在Pirate Bay网站上，有一条广告干脆就写着“点击这里，开始下载”。这是文件分享网站惯用的伎俩，刊登的广告旨在欺骗那些更好骗（至少不那么有经验）的用户。在这种情况下，点击链接，不会开始下载你要找的盗版电影：它会直接链接至一个可执行文件，在你的电脑上加载一款据称能实现YouTube视频下载的软件。或者更糟，同样这款软件的另一条广告就出现在搜索结果的旁边，“下载这部电影”，非常典型。

    isoHunt网站上有一条广告是“现在就下载”（Download Now）（显然也是想糊弄网站用户），点击链接至一款据称能比浏览器更好地管理下载的软件产品。不过至少这还有点相关。

    在TorrentReactor网站上，页面下方弹出一个广告，一个自称“just4play1968”的漂亮女孩打出一行字“嗨，朋友，想出来转转吗？让我们在奥克兰碰头吧。”我就住在奥克兰，但我想just4play1968的这句话“让我们在奥克兰碰头吧”是对奥克兰的盗版下载者说的。这条广告链接到AdultFriendFinders网站，吸引的是放荡玩乐者——而不是本尼•古德曼（著名单簧管演奏家——译注）或乔•费夫洛（美国史上最年轻的总统就职演讲撰稿人——译注）。

    继续在TorrentReactor网站上搜索《星球大战》（Star Wars），在搜索结果的中间有一条广告“警告：你打算下载《星球大战》吗？”但这并非是真正警告你，你即将实施的行为是非法或错误的。广告称，下载盗版《星球大战》“是危险行为，可能造成版权侵权”。广告链接至一款“能让你在比特流网路中保持匿名”的“特殊软件”。

    全美广告主联盟的首席执行官鲍勃•莱欧迪斯在一项声明中称，广告“无意中让这种非法的商业模式变得正当化，会误导消费者相信这些‘流氓’网站提供的是真正的产品，是遵纪守法的。”如果广告来自宝洁（Proctor & Gamble）或丰田（Toyota），或许如此。但事实是刊登在此类网站上的广告往往不能让网站变得更加正当。截至发稿，莱欧迪斯和美国广告代理商协会都没有回复采访申请。

    除了理念错误（认为市场能自行阻止盗版），起草“最佳操守”本身并无害处。但它不太可能切断“最差操守”网站的广告收入来源。

    译者：老榆木

    Some ad-industry groups are warning against placing advertisements on pirate sites. The Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies released a "statement of best practices" on Thursday, which also has the support of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Adweek declared the statement to be a "major step" in the fight against piracy. But it seems unlikely to do much good.

    Marketers, according to the statement, should state in contracts and insertion orders that ads are not to be placed on "rogue" sites that traffic in pirated, copyrighted material such as music and video. To people who have never visited a pirate site, that might sound like a great idea -- a way to hit the pirates where it hurts: their wallets. But if you've ever visited Pirate Bay or other such sites, you'll know that "best practices" aren't at the top of the list of concerns for the outfits that advertise on them.

    On Pirate Bay, one ad simply reads "Click Here to Start Download." This is a common tactic on file-sharing sites, which often run ads designed to hoodwink their own more-gullible (or at least, less practiced) users. In this case, the link doesn't download the illicit movie you just searched for: it links straight to an executable file that loads software on your computer that the advertiser promises will enable downloads of YouTube videos. Even worse, another ad for the same software product, placed right next to the search results, simply says "Download This Movie." Classy.

    On isoHunt, an ad reading "Download Now" (again clearly aimed at fooling the site's own users) links to a software product that supposedly manages downloads better than browsers do. At least that one's sort of relevant.

    At TorrentReactor, a little pop-up ad at the bottom of the page displays a photo of a comely lass who goes by "just4play1968." It says: "Hey you, wanna hang out? Let's meet up in Oakland." I live in Oakland, but I assume that just4play1968 says "Let's meet up in Orlando" to illicit-download seekers who live there. The ad is for AdultFriendFinders, a site for swingers -- and not the Benny Goodman or even the Jon Favreau kind.

    On that same site, a search for Star Wars yields an ad placed in the middle of the search results. It reads: "Warning: Are you going to download Star Wars?" But this isn't an admonishment that what you're about to do is illegal or wrong. Downloading an illicit copy of Star Wars "can be dangerous and cause a copyright infringement notice," according to the ad. The product being advertised is a "special program" that "allows you to be anonymous in bit torrent networks."

    In a statement, Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association of National Advertisers said ads can "lend inadvertent legitimacy to the illicit business models and can mislead consumers into believing that these 'rogue' websites are offering authentic products and complying with the law." That might be true if the ads were from of Proctor & Gamble (PG) or Toyota (TM). But the ads that tend to appear on such sites don't seem likely to lend legitimacy to anything. Neither Liodice nor the American Association of Advertising Agencies responded to a request for comment Friday morning.

    Instituting "best practices" can't hurt, except insofar as it creates the false idea that the marketplace can by itself deter piracy. But it's unlikely to stanch the flow of revenues to sites that employ the worst practices.