Advertising Roundup: Google Ads Get Political, FDA Slaps Bayer for False Claims, and More

John Kerry urges Obama supporters to help by buying Google ads — Senator John Kerry learned firsthand what happens when political opponents run successful smear campaigns, and he doesn’t want Obama to suffer the same fate he did. Kerry is using his PAC to ask Obama supporters to buy Google ads designed to counteract negative ads against the Democratic candidate. So far, the strategy seems to be working — a search for “Obama” and “Ayers” turns up the PAC-sponsored link, truthfightsback.com. [Source: ClickZ]

Bayer forced to pull aspirin with misleading claims — According to the FDA, Bayer has stepped over the line with its two new aspirin products — one aimed at promoting bone health and the other claiming to have a “heart advantage.” The FDA sent a letter to the drug company today arguing that the two products qualify as new drugs and therefore need to undergo the FDA’s drug approval process before the company can market them as effective for “fighting” osteoporosis and heart disease. [Source: Ad Age]

Kids not used to advertising clutter — Nielson Online released a new report today that goes against the conventional wisdom that kids are growing up accustomed to online ads. The reality is quite the opposite — using a “clutter metric” Nielsen found that kids ages 2-11 see the lowest level of ad clutter compared to other age groups. It makes sense for the youngest group, says Ad Week, because kids’ sites usually don’t have much advertising. But for teens, it suggests that MySpace and Facebook still haven’t lived up to their promise of connecting marketers to their targets. [Source: Ad Week]

Publicis well-positioned to survive downturn — French ad shop Publicis Groupe says it will weather the economic storm by focusing on where it can grow — primarily in digital and emerging markets. In the past quarter, the company’s organic growth rose nearly 4 percent. [Source: Brand Republic]