Shine&rsquo;s &#39;punchy&#39; FT ad warns advertisers but fails to scare IAB

Shine Technologies, the Israeli mobile ad-blocking company, placed a full-page ad in the Financial Times this week warning advertisers that they will fight against attempts to prevent it from blocking ads. The ad reads, “The @iab knew we could block. Now they know we can punch, too.” The URL in the advert leads to a page with quotes from executives in the ad industry admitting that the rise of ad-blocking is due to the failing ad industry. Guy Phillipson, Chief Executive of IAB UK, responded to the advert saying, “Shine’s ‘punchy' ad in the Financial Times this week doesn’t fit with the way the IAB UK sees the ad blocking issue at all." 

Ad-blocking company, Shine, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) have publicly exchanged blows in a bitter war over blocking ads.

The exchange began after Shine took out an ad in the Financial Times which used boxing’s most iconic photo of a menacing looking Muhammad Ali standing over a fallen Sonny Liston.

The ad was served as a warning to the advertising trade body the Israeli company will fight back against any attempts to prevent it from blocking ads. The URL in the ad leads to a page on Shine's website that lists three recent quotes from prominent executives in the ad industry admitting that ad blocking has come about as the result of the failing of the advertising industry.

It goes on to argue that "ad tech brought about its own inevitable demise", by giving rise to the consumer demand for ad blocking through "intrusive" practices.

Following the release of the ad the IAB chief executive, Randall Rothenberg, returned fire when he told Business Insider “I hope they buy millions of dollars of more advertising before they die”.

He said “I love the irony - an ad-blocker buying ads - but all the advertising in the world won't disguise the fact that Shine is funded by foreign billionaire investors, for the express purpose of stealing money from advertisers and publishers and diverting it into the pockets of giant cell phone carriers.

Rothenberg added “Its business model has been attacked by government regulators as a breach of the net neutrality rules that underpin the free internet”.

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of IAB UK, said “Shine’s ‘punchy' ad in the Financial Times this week doesn’t fit with the way the IAB UK sees the ad blocking issue at all.

He argued that the organisation is “keen to work with all parts of the industry, and have a good, open relationship with the ad blocking companies in the UK, including Ad Block Plus and Shine.

“Improving the user experience of digital advertising for consumers” was a central focus said Phillipson, who maintained that it was “working internationally on the L.E.A.N. ads initiative to address the key causes of ad blocking.”

The iconic photo used in the ad was famously taken by photographer Neil Leifer’s in 1965 at the heavyweight contest between Ali and Sonny Liston. It shows a towering Ali standing threateningly over Liston after knocking him down in the first round.