Misplaced online ads damage brands' image

Its independent study of 1,000 UK web users found that 78% of users would think less of a brand if it allowed an ad to appear next to offensive or inappropriate content, while 62% thought they had seen an ad in an inappropriate place.

The issue has been an increasingly contentious one in recent months, with trade body the Internet Advertising Sales Houses launching an investigation in June, after it was revealed that ads from brands such as Orange and Virgin Media had been found on barred websites in the US.

However, despite moves to prevent misplacement, 52% of people who took part in iCD's survey believe the problem will get worse.

iCD reported that according to web users, violent content was considered the most damaging for a brand to appear next to, followed by drugs reference and adult content, while Coca-Cola was thought to be the brand with the most to lose from any association with such websites, followed by Cadbury, Lego and Tesco.

It was also reported that 40% of consumers consider advertisers to blame for allowing their ads to be misplaced, rather than the website or the ad agency