Let’s just put it out there. Facebook is very puritanical when it comes to breastfeeding and boobs. The social network just can’t handle the fact they are a part of life. The most recent “offense” to Facebook’s distaste for boobs was illustrated when it banned an an for Christmas Island’s Bird’n’Nature Week.
Wait, what? Yes, you read that right. Facebook banned an ad promoting a nature appreciation week. The ad from the Australian island invited eco-tourists to come appreciate the island’s offerings, specifically, the Red-footed Booby, the Brown Booby and the Abbott Booby. Yes, they banned the ad because they didn’t like the fact these birds are referred to as Boobies.
OK, OK, it might have been the ad’s suggestive headline which read,”Some gorgeous shots here of some juvenile boobies.” Facebook claims the ad breached the site’s guidelines by “addressing the age, gender or sexual orientation of users on Facebook.” Wait. So Facebook users are birds? We’re confused.
And so is Linda Cash, marketing manager for the Christmas Island Tourism Association who said,”We presumed our original advert was blocked automatically so we appealed to Facebook directly who re-affirmed the campaign was banned due to the sexual language, particularly the use of the word ‘boobies.'”
And, perhaps, driving home the point Facebook just might be a little over-bearing when it comes to analyzing an ad’s content, Sam Collins, founder of London-based Ethos Travel which offers trips to Christmas Island said, “By blocking the tourist boards campaign, one of the world’s great eco-tourism destinations is being deprived of its lifeline because someone at Facebook cannot comprehend that a Booby is a bird.”
