Scandalous Satin and the Morality Patrol – under the pressure of Google

If someone had told me, back when I started my webshop, that one day I’d feel like a rebellious criminal in a fully buttoned satin pajama set, I wouldn’t have believed them. And yet – here we are.

Welcome behind the scenes of running an online store, where surprises abound and Google sometimes plays an unexpected role.

It all started when I eagerly enabled Google Shopping integration through Shopify. I thought, great – some extra visibility and maybe a few new customers through product listings. And the product list did appear. Some of them. But then came the message:
“Over 3,000 products disapproved. Reason: sexual and obscene content.”

Excuse me… what?

My first reaction: laughter. Then frustration. Then anger. Then more laughter.
Because honestly – there’s not a single piece of porn on my site. Sure, some items might be called sensual – they are lingerie, after all – but nothing scandalous. Unless soft satin and a little lace count?

Sure, I sell underwear. Even pajamas. Like the infamous item: a long-sleeved, full-length satin pajama set with a sweet little heart print. Clearly scandalous.

Or men’s boxer shorts. Or bras – neatly folded on a white background, not worn by anyone.
And apparently that was too much for the modern morality bots?

Now, I get that Google has content policies – that’s totally fair. But the standards they use to judge products are… ridiculous. They don’t explain exactly what’s wrong. They don’t offer a chance to fix it. There’s no appeal.

And that’s the problem. The inconsistency and one-sided “judgment” leaves a small shop owner powerless. Visibility gone, products blacklisted, and my cozy heart-print pajama now sits in the corner of shame.

I never would have guessed.

Moral of the story?
Google is like the stork that brings babies – they never tell you the full story.

But the pajama stays in my shop. I didn’t remove or edit a single product flagged by the morality patrol – I removed the entire app. The whole ordeal took less than thirty minutes. Maybe it’s not a bad thing at all. At the very least, I now know that running a webshop is never boring.

“Google said no. We say yes. #PajamaRevolution"