Breaking Barriers: Liberating Political Advertising with Ad Tech Cares

Political advertising has exploded in recent years. In 2024 $10.5 billion dollars was spent on election ads, up at least a billion from four years ago. A full $1.2 Billion of that was spent in Pennsylvania alone. And yet, despite this massive growth, the world of political ads is in turmoil. On one side, major social media platforms and programmatic advertisers impose shadow bans, keyword restrictions, strict ad timelines, and a blatant disregard to fact check content. On the other side, independent leaders like Ad Tech Cares and partnering visionaries like Quirk Creative and Aligned.news step up to amplify truthful advocacy through innovation and collaboration.

At Feel Good Action, we believe in the power of accurate information to inspire change, drive voter participation, and strengthen democracy. That’s why we’re teaming up with these trailblazers to tackle the misinformation crisis and bridge the digital divide. Together, we’re working to rewrite the rules of political advertising with creativity, trust, and transparency.

The Problem with Platform Restrictions

Major social media platforms hold significant sway over how political messages are shared, but their restrictive policies can create more harm than good:

• Shadow Bans & Censorship: Organic content promoting voting participation is getting flagged by platform review processes. We have seen organic messages promoting voter registration or issue-based advocacy getting masked, suppressed, or blocked completely due to vague keyword restrictions. 

• Campaign Time Limits: Tight timelines on paid ads hinder long-term voter education campaigns, stifling efforts to sustain meaningful engagement.

• Organic Reach Blocking: Algorithms often deprioritize advocacy content, making it difficult for grassroots organizations to reach their communities organically with helpful information.

While these measures aim to curb misinformation, they also hinder legitimate efforts to inform and mobilize voters.

The Independent Ad Tech Solution

Independent leaders like Ad Tech Cares and passionate partners like Quirk Creative and Aligned.news offer a much-needed alternative. Their approach is grounded in empowering advocacy groups, fostering transparency, and leveraging innovative ad strategies that cut through platform-imposed barriers. At Feel Good Action we collaborate with these good actors to ensure that truthful and impactful messages are not only created but also effectively delivered.

Combating Misinformation Together

Our strategy focuses on three key areas to restore faith in the democratic process:

1. Breaking Through The Blockade

Major tech companies and programmatic advertisers make cutting through the shrouded political filters a challenge. Aligned.news is looking to address this with an innovative strategy. Overcoming the brand safety concerns of hard news placements by reframing ads as contextually relevant with topical sponsorships of those stories by advertisers. Persuasion within your own media consumption can motivate behavioral change and lead to continuous action. Imagine seeing an ad supporting voting for reproductive rights embedded in an article discussing those very rights being threatened. Aligned.news’s cutting-edge work with Feel Good Action in the 2024 cycle was the first of a new tactic utilizing action-based media shared purposefully through low-cost hard news inventory. Helping drop FGA’s marginal voter registration cost to the lowest it has ever been since 2020.

2. Rebuilding Trust in Elections

Misinformation about fraud contributing to the lack of value in the individual vote, fundamentally undermines democracy. By deploying fact-based, accessible campaigns, stressing the low margins in which local elections are won, we're helping voters distinguish truth from fiction and reclaim their confidence in the process.

3. Driving Voter Participation with donated Media and Inventory

Social media restrictions can stifle efforts to register and motivate voters. With Ad Tech Cares we’re using alternative platforms through private advertisers with donated ad inventory and media to ensure messages about registration deadlines and voting rights reach every potential voter.  Quirk Creative’s ad below helped aid us in our largest Voter Registration campaign to date.

4. Advocating for the Issues That Matter

Climate change, healthcare, and other critical issues often fall victim to misinformation. By combining creative storytelling with strategic ad placement, we’re elevating truthful narratives to inspire action. Messages like Quirk Creative’s below helped boost reproductive rights messaging to hundreds of thousands of like-minded voters in the 2024 cycle. This led to the huge success of our 10 in 24 campaign.

A Call to Creatives

This effort isn’t just for ad tech professionals—it’s for anyone passionate about democracy, truth, and the power of a message. If you’re a filmmaker, designer, writer, or media producer, your skills are valuable to help transform the digital landscape.

Your PSA or infographic promoting environmental or civic action or debunking election myths could reach millions of people. Through your creativity or media, you can be part of a movement that amplifies informed voices and combats the misinformation that threatens us all.

A Future Built on Truth

Political advertising doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Together with Ad Tech Cares, Quirk Creative, and passionate advocates like you, we can build a more informed and engaged society. We believe in the power of collaboration to create lasting change—and we’re just getting started.

Join us in this fight for truth and democracy. Whether you’re contributing your talents, sharing our work, or simply casting an informed vote, you’re part of a movement that’s reshaping the digital future. Together, we’re making an impact we can all feel good about.