Why the annoying weight-loss ads are still up

I just wanted to give folks an update – as you know we’ve been having a problem with really horrific weight loss ads popping up on the site. You all have been incredibly patient, and I know how much it sucks to keep hearing us say that we’re working on it while the ads continue to appear.
So this is what’s going on (for anyone who is interested)…

One of the ad companies we work with has their system basically set up on a chain. So if they don’t have an ad to put up at the moment, it goes to another ad server in the chain and so on. Google was a part of this chain – but because of all the gross weight-loss and anti-choice ads that came up in this process, we asked that company to remove Google. This worked…for a little while. The problem seems to be now that some of the other advertisers in the chain also serve Google ads themselves – that’s why these ads continue to pop up.
The only thing the Feministing editors can do is grab the code of the offending ad, send it to the company and have them ban each URL. But our contact at the ad company tells us that this advertiser is “particularly tenacious” and keeps using new URLs to get in the system. Right now, they’re working to find a different, long term, solution. I hate to continue to ask for your patience – because I know how offensive these ads are and I cringe every time I see one on the site – but I’m going to ask anyway. Please know that we’re doing everything we possible can to remedy the situation, and if we can’t fix this in the next couple of days – we’ll temporarily take the ads down altogether until we can.