So, what has Facebook done in part of the clamp down? You can’t make it known in the landing page AND ad copy that you know anything identifiable about the group you’re targeting. For example, if you can’t mention ‘Toronto’ in the ad if you’re only targeting those in Toronto… Odd, yes. Ditto for certain ages, and such. Even if your site only caters to a certain niche group, you still can’t mention that in your ad or landing page – if it matches the targeting parameters you chose on the Facebook ad system.

Overkill? Definitely. Will this shoo away niche-advertisers? Likely. I think they need to revisit this policy. Yes, something had to be done, but they went too far.

For ‘What advertised product do you like least?’, Dating Sites were in the lead with 46%, far outpacing Education Programs Or Job Sites as the second least liked.

My take: Affiliates have gone crazy with Facebook. Facebook ads let you supply an image with your ad, along with text. This setup is not typical for advertisers, so dating site affiliate programs do not have drop-in code for affiliates to use for Facebook (the format doesn’t allow for this). Thus, you have affiliates using their own creative and their own text. This is where things get out of hand. You’ll have smutty photos plugging all types of dating sites – including niches for which it makes no sense. Affiliates don’t care, they just want to make money. The smuttier the image, the higher the click-through rate (likely). Thing is, they are destroying online dating brands in the mean time. How many online dating brands disallow affiliates to use Facebook? There should be more, because what is going on is out of control and destroying brands.

The product or service being advertised must be targeted to the appropriate, relevant audience: users aged 18 or older and who have listed their relationship status as single. The ad must also be targeted to users of exactly one gender (“Sex”) and one sexual preference (“Interested In”). In addition, the image on your ad may not be provocative or inappropriate. Lastly, the ad text or image must clearly state and represent the company or product that is being advertised. If you choose to submit this ad again, please make the necessary changes so that it adheres to all of Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines.

I can see why they are doing this. It seems for single people every ad on Facebook is for a dating site. Many placed by affiliates instead of the actual dating companies, I’m guessing.