국내에서 문제가 된 유튜브 동영상들은 중국에서 한국산 세탁기와 TV를 대형 해머로 부수는 장면 및 한국인과 한국 문화를 비하하는 내용을 포함한 것으로 알려졌다.
CJ제일제당 측은 ‘당초 4월 중순 만료될 예정이었던 유튜브와의 흑삼 한뿌리 관련 광고 계약을 중도 해지했다’며 '사측 의도와 상관없이 국민 정서에 반하는 콘텐츠가 임의로 노출된 점을 고려하여 중단 조치를 취했다'고 말했다.
또한 CJ에 따르면 ‘흑삼 한뿌리’를 제외한 CJ제일제당의 다른 제품에 대한 유튜브 광고 계약은 3월 말에 계약기간이 만료되었고, 현재 시점에서 재계약은 이뤄지지 않은 상태이다.
지난 달 인종차별 및 테러리즘을 표방하는 단체들이 유튜브에 올린 영상에 기업 광고 영상을 노출시킨 사실이 알려졌고, 이에 미국 최대 이동통신사인 AT&T와 버라이즌 및 존슨앤드존슨, 펩시, 스타벅스, 로레알 및 맥도날드를 포함한 약 250개의 회사가 이미 유튜브 광고 중단 선언을 한 바 있다.
이에 구글의 필립 쉰들러 최고사업책임자 (CBO)는 전격 사과문을 발표하며 책임감을 갖고 당사의 광고 정책 및 방침을 전면 재검토하고 수정하겠다는 입장을 내놓았다.
<관련 영문 기사>
CJ pulls ads from YouTube, joins global boycottCJ CheilJedang has become the first major South Korean company to pull its advertisements from YouTube, joining a slew of other major global brands that have recently cut ties with the video-sharing platform over inappropriate ad placement.
CJ CheilJedang -- Korea’s biggest food company under CJ Group -- said Monday that it has partially terminated its partnership with YouTube, as the platform has been automatically attaching a promotional ad for one of its products to offensive videos promoting racial discrimination.
For example, an ad featuring CJ’s black ginseng Hanppuri was played before a video that shows a man violently slamming a Korean-made washing machine with a hammer in China to protest Korea’s decision to install an American anti-missile defense system here.
CJ’s Hanppuri ad has reportedly appeared before other videos uploaded by Chinese users that blatantly degrade Koreans and Korean culture.
“We are startled that one of our ads was unknowingly attached to content that is offensive to local citizens,” a CJ CheilJedang spokesperson told The Korea Herald. “We have pulled the ad from YouTube as of now and will monitor new developments,” he said.
CJ CheilJedang said the additional ad contracts it had signed with YouTube for other products expired at the end of March, and have not been renewed as of now. Given this, CJ currently does not have any ad contracts with YouTube.
Though CJ is the first Korean company to take such action, there have been hundreds of other foreign companies that have already left YouTube over the platform’s inappropriate ad placement mechanisms.
More than 250 international companies, including mobile carriers AT&T and Verizon as well as Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Starbucks, L’Oreal and McDonald’s, pulled their ads from YouTube last month, complaining their ads were appearing next to extreme and offensive contents, including those related to terrorist groups.
Google’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler has issued a formal apology and pledged to make due changes for its business clients who use YouTube as a promotional channel.
"Recently, we had a number of cases where brands’ ads appeared on content that was not aligned with their values. For this, we deeply apologize," Schindler said in a company blog post.
“We’ve been conducting an extensive review of our advertising policies and tools and have made a public commitment to put in place changes that would give brands more control over where their ads appear.”
By Sohn Ji-young (
jys@heraldcorp.com)
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