Thursday, January 17, 2013

THE LONG CON.

Tonight, at the top of his usual umpteen from-my-cold-dead-hands posts, this is what I saw at The Ole Perfesser's site tonight:


It links to Bloomberg's Mayor's Against Illegal Guns and their Demand a Plan page ("Join more than 800 mayors and over a million grassroots supporters to demand that Congress step forward with a plan to end gun violence").

I thought maybe the ad was instantly-generated content, and that if I accessed the site from Shooty McRedneck's IP address I'd get something else -- Wise emergency rations, maybe. But on the right side, I saw another such ad with PJ Media co-branding:


It's even more fun viewing these ads on Instapundit's "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" search page, right above items like "Crimes of gun-grabbing mayors: Second Amendment group exposes Bloomberg’s hypocrisy. An awful lot of these mayors do turn out to be crooks, don’t they?"

I love capitalism. Seriously, get me a good enough price and I'll run those mangled-fetus pro-life ads. I know how to deal with their kind.

There's a lesson in this, but it takes a long time to read.

UPDATE. The PJ Media banner's always there, irrespective of ad content, so I guess the Bloomberg ads are contextual, possibly based on keywords. It's win-win for the Perfesser, as commenter Helmut Monotreme says, because it "just props up their hypothesis that liberals are coming to take their guns."

I still want those mangled fetus ads. Roe v. Wade, Roe v. Wade, Roe v. Wade. C'mon, Randall Terry, your money's as good as anyone else's.

UPDATE 2. In comments Robot Slave was giving me a hard time about my lack of internet advertising awareness, so I went and looked at a paper:
In recent years, Internet advertising has become increasingly tailored to individual users. In the simplest case, contextual advertising, advertising networks choose which ads to display on a webpage based on the contents of that page. In the more complex technique of online behavioral advertising (OBA), advertising networks profile a user based on his or her online activities, such as the websites he or she visits over time. Using this profile, advertising networks show ads that are more likely to be of interest to a particular user, charging a premium price to do so.
Ah, so Instapundit's ad network sized me up and thought I'd go for some anti-gun ads, huh? You lose, Madison Avenue!

28 comments:

  1. AGoodQuestion11:43 PM

    There was doubt for a long time about whether Roger Simon was really interested in making PJM a viable moneymaking enterprise. Apparently he does want that, and someone told him he'd have to be willing to look stupid and occasionally hypocritical. "I can totally do that," was his speedy reply.

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  2. DocAmazing12:19 AM

    They occasionally show that they understand capitalism, but only in flashes and by accident.

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  3. That's no more "understanding" than my dog thinking food comes out of the cat.

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  4. Rugosa8:14 AM

    I'm assuming you meant "can" instead of "cat," but I've had dogs so maybe not.

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  5. Helmut Monotreme8:26 AM

    They don't mind ads like that at all. It just props up their hypothesis that liberals are coming to take their guns.

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  6. reallysmall fish8:41 AM

    So nice to see a link to the Baffler. The best, unread publication on the planet.

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  7. the power of hayek compels you! the power of hayek compels you!

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  8. mommadillo10:05 AM

    Sounds like Google Ads strikes again. The PJ link shows me Musician's Friend ads, so ad content certainly appears to be controlled by the visitor's identity rather than the site's philosophy.


    The ad currently displayed in the upper-right corner of this page is for Maxwell House K-Cups. YMMV

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  9. Actually, I think his response was "You've never seen me, have you?"

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  10. zencomix10:19 AM

    So sad to head back to your Fred Thompson ad post, and there's no comment thread.

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  11. BigHank5310:29 AM

    Alicublog's old comment threads are now archived in the National Strategic Snark Reserve, and will be released if there's a shortage of satire, irony, and black humor.

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  12. Haystack10:31 AM

    I have Dr, Pimsleur following me around.

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  13. BigHank5310:33 AM

    Your dog's "understanding" is more consistent and reliable than the GOP's. You'll have to check your cat's consistency yourself. I have limits.

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  14. Mr. Wonderful11:37 AM

    "Roe v. Wade, Roe v. Wade, Roe v. Wade"


    Have you tried clicking your heels together?

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  15. unfortunately, I did mean cat.

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  16. The creepy old hayseed guy with the book about evil liberals, wonder whatever became of him? Also I wish you could get the skankwear ads back. I miss those.

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  17. mommadillo5:30 PM

    Mine has now changed to Jimmy John's, where by a striking coincidence, I ordered sandwiches for dinner yesterday evening.


    Obama must somehow be responsible, I can just feel it.

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  18. willf9:31 PM

    Okay, Obama's not responsible, and fsck PJM. But isn't that a little creepy?

    I mean, thanks, portions of the internet, for taking away enough of my privacy that you can try to sell me things I just bought.

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  19. BigHank5311:02 PM

    I just look at the crap that the ad-servers cough up, and think back to the starry-eyed articles in Wired about fifteen years ago, and laugh and laugh.

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  20. DocAmazing11:27 PM

    We really need an "eewww" button.

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  21. marindenver12:06 AM

    If you've got cats and a dog or two, the operative words are "good dog!!" Beats cleaning it up yourself any day.

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  22. Robot Slave12:52 AM

    I loves you with all my heart, Roy, but someone needs to sit you down and explain to you with the small words how modern internet advertising systems work.

    Or if we're to take a less charitable line, and assume you do already know all about all that stuff, then this is a pretty embarrassing spectacle of self-congratulation.

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  23. All I see are ads for investing in gold or (OMG LOL) silver.

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  24. edroso4:01 PM

    I know nothing about this internet thing. All I know is every three months or so, Google sends me a bag of salt. What would I be congratulating myself for?

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  25. Puddymas Bunny9:54 AM

    Nah, that's just the secret sauce. ;)

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