# I really can't stand Bing.com ads. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 20, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368 "2009-06-20T03:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/41 "2009-06-22T12:25:22Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Say what you want about Microsoft…the bastards know how to market and to leverage their natural near-monopoly to their best advantage. I wouldn’t be too sure about this, at least regarding these particular ads. The commercials were on for _weeks_ before I had any clue what they were even selling. Why? Because they’re so _goddamned annoying_ that I could never make it to the end of one without fast-forwarding or muting. When I did finally find out the brand behind the headache, I wasn’t exactly about to rush to my computer to check out the perpetrator of my currently most-loathed commercials. I have no quarrel with Google, so Bing has gotten exactly zero eyeball time from me. A perfect example of a marketing _failure_, from my point of view. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/42 "2009-06-22T14:14:32Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > What gets me is that ‘decision engine’ crap. I don’t know, but I find it vaguely threatening in the dystopic fiction-moulded paranoid sub-centres of my mind – a small step into ‘I mean, who really _wants_ to think for themselves?’-land. Way things are, google’s already making too many decisions for my taste; I do bloody well mean what I wrote in that box, thanksalot. That’s _exactly_ what creeps me out about it. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/43 "2009-06-22T15:25:18Z")
[Blind Search](http://blindsearch.fejus.com/?q=cecil+adams&type=web). Play with it and see what you like more. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/44 "2009-06-22T23:23:08Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I wouldn’t be too sure about this, at least regarding these particular ads. The commercials were on for _weeks_ before I had any clue what they were even selling. Why? Because they’re so _goddamned annoying_ that I could never make it to the end of one without fast-forwarding or muting. > When I did finally find out the brand behind the headache, I wasn’t exactly about to rush to my computer to check out the perpetrator of my currently most-loathed commercials. I have no quarrel with Google, so Bing has gotten exactly zero eyeball time from me. > > A perfect example of a marketing _failure_, from my point of view. Apply directly to the forehead. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/45 "2009-06-23T01:46:31Z")
Heck, if for nothing else, I’d recommend using Bing for online shopping. [Cash back please](http://www.bing.com/shopping/pages/howtouse.aspx?FORM=R5FD3). \ ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/46 "2009-06-23T15:10:18Z")
Most of the time, Gooogle gives me what I asked for right away. Sometimes it gets distracted. Sometimes I’ll ask for, say, **emerald ash borer** , and the first three pages link, in a step or two, to the same piece about a \*\*boring ash blond comedienne showing off her emerald necklace. \*\*:smack: Bing’s ad seems to claim it doesn’t have that problem. I’ve used it 5 times, and it found what I wanted only once. For me, the jury is still out, but it showed me a poor start. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/47 "2009-06-23T16:13:44Z")
One area where Bing compares very unfavourably with Google is that of relevance-to-locality. If I put the incomplete, short-form name of my employer (which is also a relatively common English wordl) into Google, my employer’s webpage is the second result returned. The top five results are all reasonable guesses, without any need to narrow the search terms. If I try the same vague search with Bing, my company’s site does not appear in the first 17 pages of results, at all, at all – I have loads of similarly-named companies from all over the fecking world. If I select the “Only pages from Canada” radio button, then the results are improved somewhat – what I’m looking for appears on page seven. I am the IT fella here – I can say with some authority that we haven’t done anything _at all_ to the game the system for more prominent search results – Google just does a better job of determininng relevant results. I haven’t seen such an ill-considered invitation to comparison since the Yellow Pages trotted out their “Stop searching, start _finding_ – Yellow Pages, the Find Engine” campaign. (It doesn’t help that the presentation is as ugly as fuck, either.) ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368/48 "2009-06-23T17:37:12Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > What gets me is that ‘decision engine’ crap. I don’t know, but I find it vaguely threatening in the dystopic fiction-moulded paranoid sub-centres of my mind – a small step into ‘I mean, who really _wants_ to think for themselves?’-land. Way things are, google’s already making too many decisions for my taste; I do bloody well mean what I wrote in that box, thanksalot. It’s part of a broader plan to subtly change their marketing slogan. Where do you want to go today? I think you’ll like it better here today. This is where you want to go today. This is where you will go today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-cant-stand-bing-com-ads/500368.md?page=2)