Google Disallowing the World ‘Mac’ in AdSense Ads

Michael Tsai:

Today Google informed me that I’m not allowed to use the word “Mac” in ad copy.

I’ve heard from a few other Mac developers who got the same message from Google this morning. This is nuts; if a Mac developer can’t use the word “Mac”, how can they possibly advertise with Google? What are they supposed to do, spell it “M*c”, like it’s a dirty word?

The big question is whether Apple is behind this. If so, why? If not, why is Google doing this?

★ Tuesday, 20 September 2005