FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Dan Sherman Tel: 503-682-0582 Fax: 503-582-8854 Email: email@dansherman.com MAJOR SEARCH ENGINE SYMPATHIZES WITH OSAMA BIN LADEN? Google.com Bans Listing of Flash Cartoon Depicting Terrorist's Death Wilsonville, OR -- (PRnetwire.com) -- July 30, 2002 -- Inspired by the lyrics of the country artist Toby Keith's single, "Angry American," Dan Sherman, an angry American himself, decided to show his anger by designing a flash cartoon to depict what he felt most Americans would consider appropriate justice for murderer and terrorist, Osama bin Laden. The cartoon was posted on July 17th, at www.dog9.com. To generate some word-of-mouth buzz, Sherman decided to use Google.com's AdWords Select program using the keywords "Osama bin Laden" and other spellings of the same name to draw a semi-targeted audience. The ad read, "Boot in Osama's Butt - Flash cartoon depicting what should have happened to Osama after 9/11." The Google.com advertising started on July 18th and the web site immediately received over 500 visitors. In the middle of next day, on July 19th, Sherman received an email from Google.com informing him that the content of his website was considered "Hate/Anti" and that they were immediately pulling the advertisement from their search engine. "What I find interesting about their decision," says Sherman, "is their inability to differentiate between hate and justice. Osama bin Laden has essentially confessed to orchestrating the 9/11 attacks, killing thousands of Americans in the process and President Bush has even sent our military after him and his organization. Yet, I can't advertise a cartoon in which his death is only implied. Incredible!" Sherman uses Dog9.com as a forum for showing his outrage on current event topics. According to Sherman, his next cartoon will be about Alan Iverson and his brush with the law. "I can assure Google that I do not hate Alan Iverson. But it will not be flattering to Mr. Iverson, that's for sure. I can't wait to hear what their opinion is of this new one," Sherman says. For more information about Dog9.com visit the website at www.dog9.com or call +1-503-709-2200. url: http://www.dog9.com # # # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ref: ftp://www.send2press.com/archive/pr_02_0730-sherman.txt --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Important Note: do not reply to this e-mail to reach the person sending the news release; use the contact information shown at top of the release, or: mailto:email@dansherman.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS PRESS RELEASE was sent via the PRnetwire(tm) which disseminates current news content for small business, and free PR for non-profit groups, using the Send2Press(tm) service at www.send2press.com. We adhere to the standards of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and we were established in 1983. JOURNALISTS: To only receive legitimate press releases (no spam) in a specific category(s), please go to: http://www.send2press.com/distribution/mlm/mlm.cgi This news release has ONLY been sent to members of the media, which may find this information of interest for possible news coverage. This is NOT an advertisement or solicitation for services. You are not on a mailing list -- your contact info was researched from media/publishing and editorial data publicly available. Information believed accurate but not guaranteed. [remove@send2press.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------