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Ad Feedback - Explicit Ads

Jvjohnson82
Local Performer

I am not sure where this is supposed to go but why on earth does Pandora allow ADs that talk about abortion and death penalty??? Is this supposed to be family friendly?? Does Pandora just let any AD run before vetting?? I dont care what side of the conversation you are on

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1 Solution

Accepted Solutions

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

We recognize that certain material is sensitive ground, so we do our best to preserve the listening experience. All of our ads are thoughtfully vetted by folks across various teams at Pandora, to ensure they are free from speech or content that is hateful, illegal, false, misleading, fraudulent, inaccurate or unfair. While we respect the perspective of each individual, and while there are occasional judgment calls still required, we feel strongly that our advertising platform should not be in the business of censoring.

That being said, I have a couple of suggestions which you might find helpful. First, you might want to restrict Pandora from playing songs with explicit content. When you do that, you not only remove songs with explicit lyrical content, you also remove some ads that are not intended for people who have demonstrated an aversion to explicit content. As a result, this option may remove some advertisements that might offend you.

To disable explicit content from our website on a computer, click the icon (initial or picture) on the top right corner of the page, select Settings, and then Content Settings.

There, you should see an Explicit Content toggle, which indicates whether you would like to allow explicit content or not. Set this to Off.

You might also consider upgrading to Pandora Plus or Pandora Premium. These are our advertising-free subscriptions, which also offer a number of other benefits you might find attractive.

For instance, Pandora Plus includes unlimited skips, replays, and offline listening, while Pandora Premium boasts all of these features as well as a curated, on-demand library.

Of course, we're happy to have folks listen, whether they are paid or free.

I hope this is helpful, and that you can understand the approach we have taken.


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)

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81 Replies

kwilliamsonEY
Local Performer

I agree. I use this in a classroom with students. I have explicit content blocked, so this add should not be an option.

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@kwilliamsonEY Nice to see you around the Community.

Explicit ad playing with filter enabled:

I'm happy to look into this for you, but I'll need a bit more information first. Could you tell me a little more?

Please include as much of the below information as possible:

  1. What was the ad for? Do you remember the brand, product, event or website name?
  2. Do you remember anything specific that was said or mentioned in the explicit ad that played?
  3. How are you accessing Pandora? Are you on a computer, phone, tablet or in-home device (TV, Xbox, Blu-ray player, etc.)?
  4. Was it a visual ad, an audio ad, or a video ad with audio?
  5. Which of your station(s) did you hear/see it on?
  6. What day did this advertisement play?


If you're able to get a screenshot of what's happening, please send that along as well.

Once I have more information about the ad, I can pass it along to our advertising team.

We really appreciate your help with this! 

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++

Streaming Pandora in a classroom setting:

As a general rule, any time you play music in a public place, you must have the proper licenses and pay the required royalties. This license requirement helps fairly compensate artists, authors, composers, publishers and other rightholders. Pandora is only authorized to grant you a license to use the Pandora service for personal non-commercial purposes, as stated in our terms of use.

However, under the U.S. Copyright Act, the performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution may, in certain, limited circumstances, be exempt from certain license requirements. You should consult the venue in which you are speaking, the institution which is conducting or sponsoring the conference or workshop, or your own attorney for advice on whether your use of the Pandora service might qualify under this or some other exception to the licensing requirements of the U.S. Copyright Act.

Use of Pandora in a commercial setting is also available via hardware sold by Mood Media. To learn more about this or to sign up, please visit their website.


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

We recognize that certain material is sensitive ground, so we do our best to preserve the listening experience. All of our ads are thoughtfully vetted by folks across various teams at Pandora, to ensure they are free from speech or content that is hateful, illegal, false, misleading, fraudulent, inaccurate or unfair. While we respect the perspective of each individual, and while there are occasional judgment calls still required, we feel strongly that our advertising platform should not be in the business of censoring.

That being said, I have a couple of suggestions which you might find helpful. First, you might want to restrict Pandora from playing songs with explicit content. When you do that, you not only remove songs with explicit lyrical content, you also remove some ads that are not intended for people who have demonstrated an aversion to explicit content. As a result, this option may remove some advertisements that might offend you.

To disable explicit content from our website on a computer, click the icon (initial or picture) on the top right corner of the page, select Settings, and then Content Settings.

There, you should see an Explicit Content toggle, which indicates whether you would like to allow explicit content or not. Set this to Off.

You might also consider upgrading to Pandora Plus or Pandora Premium. These are our advertising-free subscriptions, which also offer a number of other benefits you might find attractive.

For instance, Pandora Plus includes unlimited skips, replays, and offline listening, while Pandora Premium boasts all of these features as well as a curated, on-demand library.

Of course, we're happy to have folks listen, whether they are paid or free.

I hope this is helpful, and that you can understand the approach we have taken.


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)

Bheter6
Underground

Yeah. Your “content settings” don’t work. And the “folks” you have “vetting” need their heads checked. Twice in the last day an extremely graphic, scary and gross Halloween commercial has come on when I’m playing a TODDLER STATION. 

My toddlers and preschoolers don’t need to see a gross Halloween “fright fest” gory and disturbing commercial obviously intended for adults.

I’ve removed the app entirely from my TV.

Y’all cannot be trusted 

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@Bheter6 I'm happy to look into this for you, but I'll need a bit more information first. Could you tell me a little more?

Please include as much of the below information as possible:

  1. What was the ad for? Do you remember the brand, product, event or website name?
  2. Do you remember anything specific that was said or mentioned in the explicit ad that played?
  3. Was it a visual ad, an audio ad, or a video ad with audio?
  4. What is the name of the toddler station you were listening to?
  5. What day did this advertisement play?

Once I have more information about the ad, I can pass it along to our advertising team.

We really appreciate your help with this! 


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

Bheter6
Underground
The ad was for “Halloween horror nights” at universal studios.
0 Kudos

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@Bheter6 Thanks for following up with that info.

You also mentioned you were listening to a toddler station when you heard that ad play.

What is the name of the toddler station you were listening to?

Let me know.


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

sboconnell88
Local Performer

I play Pandora for my students but am going to have to find another platform because we have been getting increasingly worse ads.  Today an ad for Torid played & advertised "sexy lingerie!"   Luckily I didn't have any students in here at the time. 

0 Kudos

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@sboconnell88 Make sure to enable your explicit filter to prevent any of those types of ads from playing on your account.

Check out this thread for instructions on how to set that up: Ad Feedback - Explicit Ads


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

sboconnell88
Local Performer

I have enabled the explicit filter enabled so that explicit content will
not come through, but it doesn't seem to apply to ads.

Moderator Edit: Removed Personal Info

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@sboconnell88 Thanks for following up.

I have escalated your feedback over to our Ads team so they can take a closer look at that specific ad.

We appreciate you bringing this to our attention! 


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

Bheter6
Underground
This is best. The number of absurd, violent, graphic and sexual ads on my children stations is maddening.

I’ve just taken it off my TV entirely.

Brendie Heter

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@Bheter6 I'm happy to look into this for you, but I'll need a bit more information first. Could you tell me a little more?

Please include as much of the below information as possible:

  1. What was the ad for? Do you remember the brand, product, event or website name?
  2. Do you remember anything specific that was said or mentioned in the explicit ad that played?
  3. Was it a visual ad, an audio ad, or a video ad with audio?
  4. What is the name of the children's station you were listening to?
  5. What day did this advertisement play?

Once I have more information about the ad, I can pass it along to our advertising team.

We really appreciate your help with this! 


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

renruss
Local Performer

I keep getting an ad for trojan condoms and I would really like for it to stop. It’s on my all my playlists and it’s disturbing because I let the kids I babysit listen to music on here and an ad for condoms will pop up. Actually on my account I’m a minor and if this is the kind of ads Pandora gives to minors I think I should just go ahead and switch over to Spotify. 

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@renruss I've escalated your report over to our Ads team for further review.

In the meantime, make sure to enable your explicit filter to prevent any of those types of ads from playing on your account.

Check out this thread for instructions on how to set that up: Ad Feedback - Explicit Ads

Thank you for reporting this. 🤝


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

Nightcaste
Underground

Is there a way to turn off ads for gambling and alcohol, other than subscribing?

0 Kudos

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

@Nightcaste You might want to restrict Pandora from playing songs with explicit content. When you do that, you not only remove songs with explicit lyrical content, you also remove some ads that are not intended for people who have demonstrated an aversion to explicit content. As a result, this option may remove some advertisements that might offend you.

To disable explicit content from our website on a computer, click the icon (initial or picture) on the top right corner of the page, select Settings, and then Content Settings.

There, you should see an Explicit Content toggle, which indicates whether you would like to allow explicit content or not. Set this to Off.

Hope this helps.


Adam | Community Moderator
New to the Community? Introduce yourself here
New music alert! Picks of the Week (12.2.24)
0 Kudos

Nightcaste
Underground

That would turn off half the songs I listen to.  Not a useable solution.

kimballclark
Local Performer

I hate to jump on the bandwagon…but I have been hearing a repeated ad about a man who said he was late because he was having sex, and then in the same ad, "peeing" and "pooping" in the street—all dialogue from adults on a sitcom being featured. Like many people who use your service, I also use Pandora with children in the room, not to mention I'm an adult who would prefer not to listen to such remarks. I would prefer this kind of inappropriate dialogue NOT in my home, business, etc. Granted it could get me to pay to remove such ads, but it actually makes me want to not use Pandora altogether if they can't uphold some of the most basic of standards in a decent society.

~ Kimball