Some Biden Ads Ran on 9/11 Despite Vow to Pull Them Off Air

Democrat pledged to honor memorial groups’ request to go dark
Trump campaign never planned to pull ads on 9/11 anniversary

Joe Biden
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

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By Gregory Korte

September 12, 2020 at 9:01 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed to pull his campaign ads off the air on Friday as a mark of respect for the anniversary the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but hundreds of ads ran anyway.

Data by ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics shows most of those ads ran early, before Biden said that his campaign was going dark shortly before 7 a.m. Eastern Time. But at least 121 ads ran after the pledge, or about 6% of Biden’s scheduled ad buy.