# Targeted ads **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673 "2015-11-16T06:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/1 "2015-11-16T06:43:23Z")
Is it just me or are the companies selling online ads doing a comically bad job? Typically the ads I get couldn’t be more off target or the ads for car rentals start to appear when I got home from my trip. Is Google just ripping advertisers off or am I the only one? (Yes, I have a Facebook profile, I use gmail. You’d think they would be showing me stuff I want, or something someone could conceivably believes he can sell me?) ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/2 "2015-11-16T11:59:04Z")
I worked for a while at a natural gas company. Shortly after I started, I saw a lot of online ads for natural gas companies. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/3 "2015-11-16T12:09:52Z")
I keep getting ads for a product that I looked at about a month ago. I’ve clicked on them a few times. Each time I go to the seller’s web site where it tells me that the product is no longer available. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/4 "2015-11-16T17:58:37Z")
For some reason, a couple websites think I speak Spanish. I only speak two languages. English and Bad English. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/5 "2015-11-16T20:21:56Z")
I hate the targeted ads! It’s just creepy. I feel like I’m being followed or stalked and makes me defensive. I like to browse online a lot before I buy. If I look at something then get an ad for it the next day, it does not make me like it more. I make a point NOT to order it. And if I did buy it, why do I need to see it again? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/6 "2015-11-16T20:44:39Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#): > > I hate the targeted ads! It’s just creepy. I feel like I’m being followed or stalked and makes me defensive. I like to browse online a lot before I buy. If I look at something then get an ad for it the next day, it does not make me like it more. I make a point NOT to order it. And if I did buy it, why do I need to see it again? That’s just it, in my experience it’s never creepy. That would suggest some level of competence in the process. Right now I’m shopping for a hard drive and a MP3 player. I see ads for vacuum cleaners (I bought one last month). It is as if there is a huge delay, rendering the whole idea pointless. After I bought something one would think ads for exactly that item I just bought are utterly wasted on me. I have kids and just spent a fair amount of time shopping for toys, where are the ads for toys? I just bought a espresso machine, I spent days researching that shit online, where are the ads for beans or insulated cups? Do I have some magical configuration on my laptop, iPhone and iPad that prevents the targeting to work properly in my specific case or is the whole thing just a poorly worked out marketing gimmick for Google? ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/7 "2015-11-16T21:29:27Z")
I keep getting Facebook ads from a computer company - a month after buying a computer from them. Here’s one that worries me: I recently got an ad for coffee creamer, 30 minutes after returning from the supermarket where I had bought a competitor’s brand. No online searches were involved; the only possible way anybody could have known what I bought was by checking my supermarket club card records. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/8 "2015-11-16T21:39:37Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > I worked for a while at a natural gas company. Shortly after I started, I saw a lot of online ads for natural gas companies. I often see ads for my company’s competitors. No thanks! And I at times see ads for us, too. > [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > I keep getting ads for a product that I looked at about a month ago. I guess this kind of thing works for people who are less decisive than I am? Because if I looked at a product, I’ve either bought it or I don’t want it anymore. I just love seeing ads for an item I own already. And if I didn’t buy it, showing me the same thing isn’t going to make me magically buy it now. Something about it made me change my mind: poor reviews, it’s too expensive, can’t get it by when I want it, or whatever. So I’m not going to change my mind if you present to me exactly the same thing. I guess for people who are waffling, being bombarded with an item makes them give in? I don’t know. I’ve always thought it was stupid to keep showing me something I walked away from. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/targeted-ads/737673/9 "2015-11-16T23:57:45Z")
My spam mail contains many penis enlarger ads. Who told them my penis needed enlarging?