memes

When I (rarely) browse without an ad blocker, I notice how much better contextual ads (ads based on the site I am looking at) are compared to personalized ads. For example, on Board Game Geek shows ads for board games, board game accessories, and board game storage solutions. On webcomics I will see an ad for another webcomic that targets a similar audience. Both types of ads are genuinely interesting to me and I click on them on occasion.

When I see "personalized" ads, they are for things I have absolutely no interest in. On a tech news site, I get an ad for hair conditioner (I have short hair and losing it). On a 3d printing site, I am sold t-shirts with pro-police slogans (the fact that I regularly visit lemmy should automatically mark me as a bad target for the product).

Most times I specifically Google the specifications of something I want to buy they can't even show me just things that fit that. I even tried Amazon's AI thing and it couldn't do it. I had to scroll through 3-4 pages of wrong things before I found what I wanted. If all this data collection is for ads they are really shitty at it.

Amazon started showing me ads for appliances and I’m worried they know something about my washing machine that I don’t.

I feed them misinformation frequently

Me - Buys one hairdryer

ADs for the next 3 weeks - HEY DO YOU WANT A HAIRDRYER!

How many hairdryers do they think a gal buys??!!

The problem is the ones with all the data have no real use for it.

Google, Facebook, etc. tell you they have data, sell you the ad, run the ad on their own site, then tell you how well the ad did, but not in absolute terms. All in a black box. They don't actually have to use their data, as they're the ones grading their own work, they can just flaunt it to get buyers onboard.

I washed my car this weekend and Amazon suggested more soap on sale... Jokes on you, I ain't washing that car again for the next 6 months

they're acting like you have extra money to spend or something, they should know better

I know I'm winning when it serves an ad in a language I don't speak

Me to any advertiser that slips through my defenses: YOU DON"T KNOW ME!

You guys see ads? 😬

Making people think that seeing ads that interest them is a concession from the ad industry, to the point that people actively try to help advertisers sell more effectively to them by opting in to it, is the greatest piece of bullshittery I've ever seen in all of human history. I've never seen a more successful grift before or since. Jeffrey Epstein's blackmail scheme involving the world's billionaires has nothing on this reprehensible shit. You gotta admire it, despite it being pure unadulterated evil, regardless of whether or not it's actually effective in the end. The fact remains, we accepted this hilariously-transparent con into our lives with open arms and actually complain when it's not performing well enough.

Marketing is all about explaining why it's a good thing that your campaign have negative ROI and about taking credits for things that would happen even without the ads. The rest is hype.

And this is why I blew up in the YouTube feedback and moved to NewPipe

Targeted ads worked much better when they were about the page you were looking at.

i hate eggs and regularly type/say that and always get ads for eggs

I kinda like it when they recommend something I have no interest in, or even don't know what the heck the thing is. I figure that is confirmation of how little they know.

I bought myself anew mirror for my bathroom and anew shower head and I’ve been getting countless ads for beauty products and treatments to look better and feel sexy. FYI I’m a 42 year old man that’s on the chubby side… really helping me out with my low self esteem there algorithm…😐

Ah, no problem. They are also selling your data to companies planning to replace you at work and companies doing automatic target-determination for military all over the world.

FWIW, there's no way JARVIS doesn't rock a bleeding-edge filtration suite, but I feel ya on this every time I have to use someone else's device.

FFS, humans. How do y'all live like that?! 🥹😱🤢