Apple To Pause Ads On X After Elon Musk Endorses Antisemitic Post: Reports

Apple announced Friday that it will temporarily pull its advertising from X (formerly known as Twitter) after the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, showed support for an antisemitic X post, Axios and The New York Times reported.

On Wednesday, Musk wrote “You have said the actual truth” in response to another X user’s antisemitic comments, which suggested that Jewish communities support “dialectical hatred against whites.”

Tories' Salmon Gaffe Part of Awkward Off-Message Streak

There are two cardinal rules for a leader's campaign tour. Rule one: the leader has to stay on message. Rule two: no screw-ups by the staff on tour or back in the war room.

Well, Stephen Harper has been off-message since the start of the campaign. And the Conservative campaign team has been screwing up on a regular basis, stepping on the leader's message.

Last Thursday, Harper made a nice family announcement about increasing the Adoption Expense Tax Credit from $15,000 to $20,000 for thousands of parents adopting children from Canada and abroad. Laureen and Stephen Harper walked in a field with a family and their adoptive daughter. The images were lovely.

Opposition mounts against ‘wasteful’ Conservative government ads

OTTAWA — Happy-looking families, soccer-playing children and friendly neighbours are a staple of prime time television these days as the Conservative government churns out post-budget advertising spots with the use of millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it’s needed to make the public aware of Ottawa’s programs. But the government ad blitzes, which have cost an estimated $750 million since Harper took power, are fuelling an increasingly fierce pushback from those who see the messaging as too pro-Conservative.

Ontario Auditor General Worries Changes Could See Public Pay For Partisan Ads

TORONTO - Ontarians could end up paying for partisan political advertising under changes the Liberal government is proposing, the province's auditor general warned Wednesday.

The government signalled in the budget last week that it would amend legislation to require the government to submit preliminary ads for the auditor general to review, define "partisan" in relation to its advertising and restrict government ads during elections.

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said the proposed changes would "gut" the 10-year-old act.

Watchdog Group Wants Audit of Taxpayer-Funded Ads

An independent government watchdog group has called on Canada's auditor general to review taxpayer-funded spending on government advertising. Democracy Watch has also launched a letter-writing campaign through its website, demanding the office look at what it describes as "questionable" ad initiatives in the past.

The group's co-founder, Duff Conacher, said the federal government is spending public money on ads that mislead or advertise for initiatives that don't exist.

Cabinet secrecy blocks rationale behind Harper government’s advertising slogan

OTTAWA - Strong. Proud. Free. And a state secret.

The genesis of the Harper government's "Strong Proud Free" slogan that is currently bombarding Canadian television viewers is considered a cabinet confidence and will be sealed from public scrutiny for 20 years.

A request by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act seeking any background rationale for the tagline, which is being used to punctuate all the latest taxpayer-funded advertising, has come up empty.

Taxpayer Group Urges Tories To Stop Pumping Public Money Into Partisan Ads

A government waste-watching group once headed by Defence Minister Jason Kenney is calling out the federal government for using taxpayer money to pay for partisan ads.

In a release issued Wednesday, Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Aaron Wudrick points to several recent ad campaigns that have been in heavy rotation, including the anti-pot messaging launched last year and commercials touting new tax cuts.

"These ads are all paid for with your tax dollars," he notes.

Conservative government mum on taxpayer-funded ad spending

The Conservative government’s annual report on government advertising is nowhere to be found at a time when the use of taxpayer-funded ad spending is under close political scrutiny.

Nearly a year after the 2013-14 fiscal year came to an end, Public Works has not yet released its annual report outlining spending trends and the exact figures for each campaign across all federal departments.

Harper Government's 10-Week Anti-Drug Ad Blitz Cost $7 Million

OTTAWA - Newly released figures show the Conservative government spent more than $7 million on a 10-week, anti-drug advertising campaign that wrapped up at the end of last month.

That's more money than Health Canada spent advertising all its programs and services combined in the previous 2013-14 fiscal year.

A government response to a House of Commons order paper question by Liberal MP Scott Simms said the ad campaign to raise awareness of the harms of marijuana and prescription drug abuse among youth cost $7,026,822.

Anti-Islam Ads Will Soon Be Plastered On New York City Buses

An anti-Islam group is preparing to plaster New York City buses with advertisements that defame Islam and use images from the recent execution of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the latest in the organization’s longstanding effort to recast Islam as an inherently violent religion.

Who cares about the truth when you’ve got a hefty ad budget?

Stephen Harper has made an amendment to the old saying that bullshit baffles brains: marketing trumps all.

Care to play Snakes and Leaders Stevie-style? Easy-peazy. You screw the veterans and then divert attention by surrounding sporting events with commercials saying what a swell job you’re doing for them. The veterans will know you are a fat-faced liar, but that doesn’t matter. They are old and expendable — a disappearing demographic of no political importance. There’s no political upside to them.

Advertising Standards Canada: No Sanctions For False Government Ads

OTTAWA - Government advertisers are free to blatantly misrepresent services or programs without public censure from the ad industry's self-regulatory watchdog, so long as they stop airing the offending ads after citizens complain.

The Conservative government's $2.5 million campaign last spring to promote the Canada Jobs Grant, a proposed job-training program that still doesn't exist almost a year later, is a case in point.

Ad industry self-regulatory group won’t name and shame false government campaign

OTTAWA - Government advertisers are free to blatantly misrepresent services or programs without public censure from the ad industry's self-regulatory watchdog, so long as they stop airing the offending ads after citizens complain.

The Conservative government's $2.5 million campaign last spring to promote the Canada Jobs Grant, a proposed job-training program that still doesn't exist almost a year later, is a case in point.

Both Global News and PostMedia News have revealed that Advertising Standards Canada, the "national, not-for-profit, advertising self-regulatory body," chided the government for the misleading ads, which were in heavy rotation last spring — including during pricey NHL playoff telecasts.

‘Economic Action Plan’ ads to continue for the rest of our lives

Those “Economic Action Plan” ads we’ve all come to love over the last four years are going to continue until at least 2016, but probably forever.

The Harper government has called for bids from ad agencies willing to plan a campaign that could run for up to three years, with the purpose of strengthening “ongoing consumer confidence in the Canadian economy and the direction of the country.”

Economic Action Plan Ads: Harper Cites Pride To Defend $113 Million In Ads

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is justifying the more than $100 million his government has spent on economic advertising by pointing to Canadians' confidence in the economy.

Taxpayer-funded government ads are supposed to inform citizens about programs and services, according to Treasury Board guidelines.

But when the Conservatives recently put out a tender for a major new ad agency contract that could see the feel-good "economic action plan" brand continued until 2016, they highlighted consumer confidence and the direction of the country as key objectives.