I’ve been experimenting with some advertising on Amazon, using their sponsored ads. I had done this previously, with my earlier book SQL Practice Problems. The ads I placed for SQL Practice Problems did not seem very successful (sometimes it’s tough to tell), but I thought I’d do some experiments in any case.  

After I put the ads up, I was shocked to receive email from Amazon Advertising, telling me that…the ads were rejected! And the reason for the rejection was that “it contains unrealistic weight loss claims”.

Here’s what I got from them:

The following ads are non-complaint to creative acceptance policies :
Your ad titled “Weigh Every Day: Achieve lifetime weight loss with a stress-free daily weigh-in and personal food rules” no longer complies with our current Creative Acceptance Policies. Specifically for the following reasons:

Your ad has been rejected as it contains unrealistic weight loss claims. Claims such as “Lose 10 pounds in 10 days”, that speak directly to the customer such as “Tired of being overweight? Nothing working for you?, that suggests that everyone will get the same results or weight loss can be achieved without following a diet or exercise program are prohibited. Please remove this content from your ad.

So…the actual title of my book, because it talks about lifetime weight loss, is non-compliant. 

The interesting thing is that sometimes, the ad passes the review process. It appears to be somewhat random, probably depending on who is reviewing it. So, I do have some ads running on Amazon for Weigh Every Day.

I may respond to Amazon Advertising and try to argue the point. Because in my book, I do specifically state that habits need to be changed for a lifetime. Of course, lifetime habit changes are the only way to achieve the lifetime weight loss that’s mentioned in the subtitle.