---
title: Let's get specific
description: GumGum's CEO Phil Schraeder's look at a very specific example of the conundrum of block lists doing more harm than good for advertisers.
---

[Brand Safety Institute Blog ](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/blog)

# [Let's get specific](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/blog/keyword-blocking-rapinoe-uswnt)

 Written by [Jeremy Spitzberg](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/blog/author/jeremy-spitzberg) | Sep 4, 2019 8:18:29 PM

The keyword blocking debate has heated-up, but has been short on specifics. Until now.

Following the Wall Street Journal's long article about advertisers keeping their ads from non-objectionable content on news sites, there has been[ a lot of discussion in the industry](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/blog/advertisers-abandoning-news-brand-safety-survey) about block lists and keyword filters. Now Ad Age has published GumGum's CEO Phil Schraeder's look at [one example of this conundrum](https://adage.com/article/opinion/womens-world-cup-showed-how-safety-guardrails-cost-brands-valuable-audiences/2194091?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=adage&utm_content=e1b8db89-5585-4c8e-a35a-565d165ad041).

Despite June being Pride Month - with [advertisers lining up campaigns to reach the LGBTQ+ audience](https://mediakix.com/blog/lgbtq-pride-month-social-media-marketing-brands/), and garner the social capital (and opprobrium) that comes with taking a stance - bleeding into the USWNT's triumph in early July, advertisers may have missed the boat.

> This year though, the LGBTQ+ community was gifted a brief, unofficial encore, courtesy of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team.

> This unstoppable force—led by audacious, political, out co-captain Megan Rapinoe—captured the attention of a global audience on the way to their fourth consecutive World Cup win and beyond. It was the feel-good story of the year, [particularly for LGBTQ women](https://www.them.us/story/us-womens-national-soccer-team-lesbian-visibility) and sports fans, because Rapinoe and five other USWNT players are among the 42 out players in the league.

> The media’s unequivocal embrace has rewarded digital publishers with a page-view bump for their sports sections. [Deadspin’s viral headline](https://deadspin.com/purple-haired-lesbian-goddess-flattens-france-like-a-cr-1835954827), “Purple-haired lesbian goddess flattens France like a crepe,” garnered 578,200 page views alone. But using keyword blocking to avoid terms like “gay,” “lesbian,” “queer,” or “LGBTQ+” are missing out on all those enthusiastic eyeballs.

The article is confident that technology - and might we add committed [brand safety professionals](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/certification) - can help brands decide which occurrences of a blocked term are harmful to a brand's reputation, and which might enhance it. However, the reality may be more complicated. Yes, the Deadspin article mentioned is a fairly straight-forward sports story. It does contain a link to a story about the political controversy that Megan Rapinoe was embroiled in at the time, but phrased it in a blocked-term free way:

> Megan Rapinoe has spent this week [enduring Swiss-cheese brained criticism from some powerful haters](https://deadspin.com/megan-rapinoe-cannot-make-this-any-clearer-1835936942)

If the link text was "in a spiteful back-and-forth with President Trump", would that fall afoul of even a more flexible list of blocked keywords?

These are difficult questions, and only make the case for advertisers, publishers, and everyone in-between, to have [expertise in brand safety](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/certification) available to make informed decisions in the best interest of the brand.

[View full post](https://www.brandsafetyinstitute.com/blog/keyword-blocking-rapinoe-uswnt)

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