How to Block Sponsored Ads on Facebook

Like many companies today, OPTIMA Batteries runs advertisements on Facebook. We do our best to target these ads only to people who we think would be interested in them, but we're not perfect in that regard. Sometimes we hear from folks in the comment section, who would rather not see a particular ad again and sometimes they don't want to see any ads from OPTIMA Batteries again. That brings us to the ellipsis, better known as "..."


Those three dots appear at the top of ads on your mobile device and your desktop. Normally, if you click on the ellipsis, a drop down menu of options will appear, including Save Link, Hide Ad (Never see this ad again), Report ad, Why am I seeing this ad? Turn on notifications for this post and View edit history. It's that section option- Hide Ad, that you want. Once you've hidden it, Facebook might ask you why you chose to hide it, giving you a few options like "Sensitive topic," or "Already purchased," etc...

After you make that selection, Facebook will give you some additional options that might help you understand why you saw the ad, how to make changes to your ad preferences, see more information about that advertiser or hide all ads from that advertiser. Click on that final option and you'll never see ads from that advertiser again.  It typically takes less than a minute to run through that process, but the result is that you won't see ads from that advertiser again and the advertiser will probably appreciate your effort. After all, they certainly don't want to spend money serving ads to people who don't want to see them and they definitely don't want repetitive ads to negatively-impact your perception of their brand. 

One thing you definitely shouldn't do with an ad you don't want to see is post a comment on that ad. Facebook may interpret the comment you post as a positive engagement, which may result in that ad or others from that company (or other similar companies) being served to you even more often! After all, that ad may be served to hundreds of thousands of people, but only a few will think enough of it to actually comment, so choose your words carefully in the comments section, if you choose any at all!

Now recently (as of the first half of 2021), Facebook started serving "Paid Partnership" ads that partnered two brands or accounts together. For some unknown reason, clicking on the ellipsis in these ads in your timeline doesn't seem to work...at least not right away. There is a workaround that you can follow to get the same result. If you click on the timestamp on one of the comments in the ad, it will take you to that ad as it appears on that page

Once you do that, you'll then be able to click on the ellipsis, have several options appear and choose to hide all ads from that advertiser

After you do that, you can then go to the ellipsis on that page itself and click it to reveal another drop down menu of options, which include the option to block the page

If you click on that option to block the page, Facebook will make sure you understand the consequences of blocking that page and if you do, then confirm you decision and the page will be blocked.

Once you've done that, your days of seeing ads from that page will be over. However, those ads will likely only be replaced by ads from another company, which is hopefully more aligned with your interests. If not, just keep repeating the process until your timeline only features ads that interest you. 

You didn't think you'd be able to escape from this page, without getting a sales pitch from us, did you? We promise it's a soft sell. Did you know most car batteries spend their entire existence partially-discharged? You can maximize the performance and lifespan of your battery and your vehicle's charging system, by keeping your battery fully-charged (at least 12.6 volts) whenever possible, which can save you time, money and a lot of hassles over the lifespan of your vehicle. Most battery chargers do a great job of keeping your car battery fully-charged, but we're obviously partial to our own brand of chargers, which do a fantastic job.

If you don't own a battery charger or maintainer, there's never been a better time to buy one and they also make great birthday, Christmas and Father's (or Mother's) Day presents!