Yep, earlier this week, I was hit with a moderation by Amazon…again. Mother effing Amazon. This time, it was for an advertisement for The Trafficking Consortium running for years. Why now? I have no idea.

Of course, they have rules and regulations on appropriate content. The advertisement followed them and stayed within the boundaries of their rules. I even paid a consultant who was well versed in their rules and practices to write the ad. I even got Facebook and Twitter copy I could use, although I don’t use their advertising services very much due to cost. The ad should have been safe. 

Think again. 

At first, they just shut down the ad and notified me with a stupid generic moderation statement. Amazon’s message did not identify what was specifically wrong with the ad. I had to file an appeal to the moderation to dig into it. I ended up speaking to an Amazon Advertising Service Representative on the phone. After reviewing the ad, he agreed with me that it did NOT violate their rules and regulations. He then forwarded the appeal to someone up the chain.

The Response to my Appeal of Moderation by Amazon

Two days later, I got this response.

As per the update received from the team, they have determined that the ad’s (Campaign Name: Trafficking Consortium Campaign) content is not appropriate for all audiences.
The product description contains the following: 

Can she submit long enough to escape?

Avril Gillios keeps herself in top physical condition. So much the better for the casual flings where she submits herself to a man’s control.

WTF? This text is not in the advertisement. It’s in the product description of the book itself. Why are they now considering the product description when it is not part of the advertisement. Further, their rules for advertisements makes no mention that the product description needed to follow the rules as well.

Revised Version

Rather than arguing with them, I unwillingly submitted to their control. The new version of the description reads:

Can she survive long enough to escape?

Avril Gillios keeps herself in top physical condition. But running marathons and clean eating has made her sought after in a different circle: a thousand-year-old sex trafficking organization. Little does she know she’s about to be purchased....

I changed the word ‘submit’ to ‘survive’ and removed the line about submitting to a man’s control. I did not change the advertisement itself. 

The Result?

Amazon approved the modification to the product description and released its hold on the advertisement. Mother effing, you know what comes next. Do I really need these interruptions that keep me from producing new books? Not in the slightest.

Lesson learned. Amazon can be so frustrating…. God help me.

Help me out and buy my books so that I can stop advertising on Amazon. Thank you

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