dekstop: weblog

Normally I don't even glance at site ads, but while browsing Roger Ebert's site I saw a Google ad that made me stop and read. And reload.

As if our democratized content mediation process wasn't confusing enough we now have Google ads that spread awareness of fraudulent business practices behind services advertised on other Google ads, and Google ads that look like they spread awareness of fraudulent business practices behind services advertised on other Google ads but in reality lead to fraudulent products.

How bizarre: advertisers devalue the messenger (the Google ads medium) in an attempt to relativize a (probably valid) critique of their business practices. Don't like other people criticising what you do? Shout louder. And even more interesting: Say the same things that they say, but mean the opposite.

A bizarre postmodern twist on the language of advertising. Promise one thing, and after the click provide another; and assume that the customer will be blinded enough by colorful promises to forget that he is provided with the opposite of what he is promised.

This seems like a cynical admission of the fact that clickrates don't necessarily correspond to your product, but to the attraction of your promises; and it is a reaction to the assumption that web surfers in essence are a forgetful and easily impressed species.

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