Tag: LinkedIn

“We are thrilled to partner with AAN and CLF once again for the next two years,” Google’s head of conservative advertising, Lee Dunn, said in a press release. “We look forward to helping CLF win elections in 2018,” Dunn said. So that means the interests of candidates and these digital platforms are aligned in a way that may be contrary to the interests of the public as a whole.” ‘Ideation sessions’ An October article published in the journal Political Communication found that digital advertising platforms had developed partisan advertising teams to work with clients on both sides of the aisle. During the general election, the companies embedded team members in the campaigns. Dunn, who recently switched roles again and is leading Google’s international elections outreach, touts her “deep relationships with top political donors, candidates, campaign committees and political advertising agencies” in her LinkedIn profile. The AAN press release announcing the organization’s preferred partnership with Google states that it includes “increased measurement and analytical support from Google’s Elections and Advocacy Team.” One marketer said the close relationship between digital advertising platforms and political groups is a natural occurrence when technology is developing so rapidly. “I really think this is Google’s attempt to say, ‘Look, the media environment is shifting dramatically and the clientele don’t understand the digital world enough to be able to spend that money effectively.’ ” Top-spending Super PAC Formed less than a decade ago, AAN and CLF support Republican congressional candidates and promote conservative policies. CLF has been the top-spending super PAC during the 2018 election cycle, shelling out more than $11 million to support conservative congressional candidates. The advocacy spending includes $9 million on digital ads, and another $10 million on ad campaigns that appeared both on air and on digital platforms. Unlike traditional broadcast ads — where the topic of the advertisement, the amount spent on it, and the identity of the ad’s sponsor are all publicly disclosed on the Federal Communications Commission website — digital advertisements are generally not reported to regulators unless they specifically advocate for or against a candidate.