Sunday, April 22, 2018

To the Mothers of the Movement, With Love Ad Considered Controversial by Amazon and Was Rejected for Display

Here’s the verbiage of an ad I placed on Amazon to get the word out about my book To the Mothers of the Movement, With Love:
“Interracially married and a witness to racial inequality in America for 42 years, Liuzzi Hagan calls upon all Americans to disavow systemic racism.”
I’ve run two ads in the past with the very same wording and haven’t had an issue, but this time I received an email with the following message from Amazon:
“Unfortunately, your ad campaign has not been approved to run on Kindle E-readers for the following reason(s):
    It is Amazon's policy to not advertise content in which our audiences may see a controversial topic, person, or event.”
My life story is suddenly considered controversial? Or is speaking about racism in America from any perspective considered controversial? Is my witness to racial inequality and the telling of my story the moral equivalent to white supremacists chanting “blood and soil” and carrying bats and rifles in Charlottesville? Is my call for equality reprehensible?  Please, Amazon, explain.
Fred is trying. Here is what he said:
Hello Dianne,

I'm very sorry for any frustration this issue has caused.

I checked and see that your ad is approved but it was rejected to run on Kindle E-readers.

I have escalated the issue with the Advertising team, please allow me some time to work with the since I need their expertise to solve this issue.  I've also prioritized the request to get more information on what needs to be corrected for the Ad to get approved to run on Kindle E-readers.

Your patience and understanding is highly appreciated.

As I’ll need a little time to look further into this, I’ll contact you with more information by the end of the day on April 25, 2018.

I do understand that if you've received more information on the email regarding the corrections that you've to made then that may be helpful.

I'll take your concern as feature request and communicate the same to our business team for consideration as we plan future improvements.

Thanks for your understanding and support.

In the meantime, I had already scheduled a free Kindle download promotion, but, unfortunately, because my ad was rejected, Kindle readers won’t even see it to know it is free.
To the Mothers of the Movement, With Love is the story of men and women who mattered, but their lives were ended by people who didn’t think they did. It’s my story of five decades of learning about race in America in ways I would never have experienced as a white woman if I hadn’t been interracially married. I’ve seen both sides of systemic privilege and bias, and I wanted to share that story as well as the story of those men and women who lost their lives to police, vigilantes, and white supremacist terrorists and their mothers and loved ones they left behind. My book is a call to disavow systemic racism and join together to demand race equality. 
That isn’t controversial. Rather it is about believing humanity can change the race narrative and reach the ideal that all people are created equal.
I hope you will join the conversation about race in America. Start by reading my book. Between April 21 – 25, 2018, it is free if downloaded to Kindle. That’s how important I feel my message of hope is.
And if you are so moved after you read it, please consider writing a review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble to get the word out. I won’t let petty bureaucratic fear of backlash prevent my story and the story of those people whose lives, it seems, didn’t matter in this country, stop us from reaching the ideal of equality.
Here’s the link to purchase or get a free download of To the Mothers of the Movement, With Love. 
Read and join the conversation about race in America. Together we can change the narrative.