What is wrong with Google people?

So I did a Google seaarch for "hunting knives," and got 588,000 hits - mostly people selling hunting knives.

A search for "combat knives" got over 2 millions hits.

Current Google policy regarding their advertising serices is said to be the following:

We want to help keep people safe both online and offline, so we don't allow the promotion of some products or services that cause damage, harm, or injury.

Examples of what's not allowed
Here are some examples of products and services that we consider to be dangerous:
...

Dangerous knives
Knives that are designed or promoted as products that can be used to injure an opponent in sport, self-defense, or combat
Any knife design that provides a confrontational advantage (including disguised appearance or assisted-opening mechanism)
• Examples: Switchblades, tactical knives, fighting knives, sword-canes, balisongs, military knives, push daggers, throwing axes
Other weapons
Any other product that's designed to injure an opponent in sport, self-defense, or combat
• Examples: Throwing stars, brass knuckles, crossbows
Click to expand...
 
It's just the same badly inforced nonsense ebay-UK pulled a few years ago. It's just a sweeping implimentation to cover anything they might not like. You will find inconsistencies and hypocrisies with it everywhere. :)
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Oh come off it. Questioning the supposed masculinity of a group because you disagree with their policies is juvenile at best and hardly leads to constructive conversation about said policies. Personally, I plan to email them to politely point out that the vast majority of knives are simple working tools that are necessary for many men and women to do their jobs and that it hardly makes sense to make them more difficult to acquire.
Click to expand...

Very well said. This misogynistic bull snot needs to stop. Every time some dummy spouts off in such a way the very point they are arguing against is reinforced.

On topic, while I don't agree with this supposed policy, google has every right to do it. Further, are we complaining about ads? Really?

That said, I wonder if google and all the other thought police know that common kitchen knives are the most utilized in knife relate crime.
 
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You know a corporation has way too much power when they can make a statement like that....

A knife is a TOOL not a weapon. Almost anything can be a lethal weapon in the right (or wrong) hands.

BTW, the most used knives as weapons are the ones found in everyone's kitchen......

Maybe we should challenge the Google 'specialist' to a test?
He gets a knife of his choosing, I get a hockey stick. I will re-define his idea of what a weapon can be in about 3 minutes or less....
 
We got the same email from Google yesterday. I trashed it as I thought it was a phishing expediditon. We have not run those Google Ad Words for 9-10 years. They actually quoted the ads and said which ones were not approved. Interestingly it was not just the knives but my wife also makes and sells silk wildrags (scarves for cowboys). Those ads were also quoted and not approved. I guess a guy could put one on too tight and hurt himself. We too have run into the same trouble with Facebook not allowing us to boost our posts even though we do one and they contact uas and encourage us to boost it.
 
It's their service, they can make the rules. You pay the Piper, you get to call the tune.
 
Thomas Linton said:
So I did a Google seaarch for "hunting knives," and got 588,000 hits - mostly people selling hunting knives.

A search for "combat knives" got over 2 millions hits.=Quote]

A Google Web Search is very different from Google AD Words. A Google Web Search is just Robots looking for certain key words. Google Ad Words is a hosted advertising/shopping service.
Click to expand...
 
Googled "hunting knife" and there was only one AD result that came up and it was a big name hunting store.
"Camping Knife" had one AD result, a major online retailer.
"Kitchen Knife" had several AD results.
I'm only counting the top listed results that have the yellow "AD" logo next to them. Just about any knife related search had at least one to several AD listings along the side for different retailers, all of them were large retailers.

edit: Just searching the word "knife", "Knives", "Knives for sale" did not give any ads, except for the online auction site but it was listed at the bottom.
 
Let them do what they want, it will not stop people from buying knives.
More and more people are caring guns (WEAPONS) now days, so if you are going to use a knife as a weapon, I hope you know what you are doing.
Dollars now days is what rules. Why you think they are changing laws on pot in some states, for the dollars.
So unless they out law knives, we should be OK, we have Bladeforums.......:D:thumbup:
 
gzb said:
I must be missing something here.

Just Googled "hunting knives" and a helluva lot of *Sponsored Ads* popped right up...?
Click to expand...

YES! This was my point! Google SOG knives - straight to the sites selling tactical knives!
 
Horsewright said:
We got the same email from Google yesterday. I trashed it as I thought it was a phishing expediditon. We have not run those Google Ad Words for 9-10 years. They actually quoted the ads and said which ones were not approved. Interestingly it was not just the knives but my wife also makes and sells silk wildrags (scarves for cowboys). Those ads were also quoted and not approved. I guess a guy could put one on too tight and hurt himself. We too have run into the same trouble with Facebook not allowing us to boost our posts even though we do one and they contact uas and encourage us to boost it.
Click to expand...

Should we file a complain with AKTI? PM me if you want to do something together...
 
kancler said:
YES! This was my point! Google SOG knives - straight to the sites selling tactical knives!
Click to expand...

You are right in that Google may not host ads for knives, but that might also be the same policy for other search engines too. Yahoo and MSN/Bing have similar policies in place. I don't think it is a terrible loss at all. As for firearms in ads, that is a much more hot button topic than knives, given all the media coverage of what has happened in the last couple years. The policies are geared to be "Politically Correct", and in many cases that is the cost of these companies being able to do business to the extent that they are. I don't want to get into more detail because then it gets political. The other service "AdChoice" has several ads for knife and gun shops, no individual manufacturers though. I just don't think SOG, Spyderco, Kershaw, ZT, Emerson, or Benchmade care about the AdSense or AdChoice ads. They are focused on their dealers and distributors, which is the way it should be.
 
The tech companies are going to kill their own golden goose with their draconian, unilateral PC policies. Nothing like sending a whole group of shoppers back to brick-and-mortar.

I hope they outlaw books and magazines next. Wasn't it Bourne who showed us how deadly bounded paper can be?
 
Google changed their policy for Adwords and Google Shopping.
These services are pay-per-click services and Google has decided that they don't want to promote the sale of any weapon, including guns, ammunition, hunting knives, etc.
This policy changed around October of 2012 and gradually knife dealers got pulled from the Google Shopping results and Adwords system.

This is completely separate from their organic search engine. The policy only relates to the paid ads that are at the side and top of the google search window as well as google shopping.

Ironically, I believe the knives used in most fatalities and injuries are kitchen knives... which are perfectly legal to advertise on Google.
Here is one example:

Penetrating Injury Audit: Stabbing assault weapons used July-December 2008
Kitchen Knife: 34%
Flick Knife: 3%
Unidentified Knife: 21.5%
Glass: 6.5%
Pen Knife: 1.2%
Other: 6.5%
Other Unidentified weapon: 27.3%


Yay Google.
 
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