Targeted advertising.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I don’t have a problem with the concept of targeted advertising. I do enough shopping on line that the idea that Google can pick up on my interests and show me advertising that is relevant is fine. The reality is a bit disappointing though and at times annoying and intrusive.

The way it should work is that it knows I like biking and flying and whatever else and so it shows me related advertising. What actually happens is this:

Just after I’ve finished searching for a car to buy, narrowed down the options, visited some dealers, and driven away in a Subaru Outback, I get presented with lots of advertising for Subaru Outbacks.

Just after I’ve done some internet searching on mountain bikes, read forums, read reviews, watched YouTube videos, visited the bike shop and ridden away on a Scott Genius 740, I’m presented with ads for Scott Genius 740s.

Just after I have a few bingles, realise I need some elbow and knee pads, research the various options on the internet, head down to the bike shop and walk out with some Troy Lee Designs body armour, I’m shown ads for Troy Lee Designs body armour.

Just after I’ve decided to get my girlfriend some cycling clothes for her birthday, searched the internet for options, decided on some mountain biking shorts, gone to the bike shop and walked out with some Specialized bike shorts and a bib liner, the ads are for Specialized bike shorts and bib liners.

Just after I’ve used my Qantas Frequent Flyer points for a Caribee sleeping bag to be used during the overnight break in a 12 hour mountain biking enduro event, I’m shown ads for the Qantas Frequent Flyer shop featuring the very same Caribee sleeping bag that I’ve just bought.

You see the problem here? None of this advertising is of any use to me. It is all a history of my past shopping rather than an intelligent guess at my future shopping. The gate is being shut after the horse has bolted. Worse it is also a history of my gift purchases. All my girlfriend needs to do to have a pretty good idea of what she’s getting for her birthday or Christmas is just glance at the ads on the webpages I visit. Anything feminine is bound to be something I have recently purchased for her.

It could be so useful, but the execution is lacking.

2

Same with voting for me. My state has mail-in voting… I receive all sorts of mail about voting for this and that AFTER I have voted!

Also I research things concerning other people on the internet, then am beseeched with ads concerning those things until I search for something else. Once I was researching ladies tampons and Toxic Shock Syndrome - so then every web page I visited after that had ads for tampons!

3

If I want to buy something on line, I’ll search for what I’m looking for and get it from the company’s website. Mostly airline tickets or other travel related services, but also restaurants, events, and a variety of products I might be interested in. I have never clicked on an on-line advertisement in my life, and would be surprised if many people do. In the early days of the web (and maybe still?) we were taught “don’t click on any links that look like an ad and don’t open emails from people you don’t know” for fear of someone taking over our computers.

4

This, in a nutshell, is the problem with the concept for me. “Things I search for on the internet” and “things I’m interested in buying” are vastly different.

Occasionally I’ll find Amazon’s suggestions helpful, because I do tend to do research several things at once over the course of many weeks before actually buying. But it’s rare.

5

Snipped for brevity.

Color me unenlightened, what exactly is a bingle? And does one need more than a few?
I may want some.

6

A bit of creative searching found this link, which makes me think it has to do with accidents between bikers and cars.

(I searched for “+bingles australia bike shop”. Australia was in there because the OP referenced Qantas, and I thought it might be local slang.)

7

It’s just a collision. Normal context would be for a minor car crash but often used in an understated way for a major car crash. My mountain bike bingles are generally with the ground or some vegetation. I wasn’t aware it was Australian slang.

8

Yeah, I’m not sure how good the ‘targeting’ is really, to be perfectly honest. Everybody in my age group is all, “The computers will rule the world soon!”

But EVERY day I get advertising for London, England!

9

I usually start my day by reading news reports from several sources. Lately, I have been getting serving after serving of advertisements in Spanish. To the best of my knowledge, I have never, even accidentally, visited a Spanish language website.

10

Which reminds me of a Australian show I once watched 20+ years on our local (NY) PBS station on their “Brit-Com nights” (Brit = commonwealth; just go with it).
Bingles - I thought the series was called “Bingles Garage” or maybe “Bingles Smash Repair”, but that was apparently just the in-show name of the garage.
From what I can recall of the show after several decades, yeah, they would have used such a groaner of a pun. :smack:

11

I was talking with a friend about corsets and leggings and dancer gear and stuff , so my banner ads for, like, 3 weeks were all ballet tights and sex shops.

Made it really weird when I would show other people things on the internet and all the banners are telling me is which leggings are the softest…

12

Amazon’s suggestions for me tend to be something I’ve already bought. From them.

Yes guys, I would like volumes 1 through 5 of that 6 volume series… oh wait, I already have them and they’re in my purchasing history!

13

Look them dead in the eye and say “I keep a collection”…

14

You got targeted advertising for corsets, leggings, and dancer gear stuff just because you talked with a friend about it?

Turn off your mobile device, dude, before you do that! Siri is listening!

15

I’m hoping he was “talking” as in online chatting.

16

Lol. Yes it was talking online. I guess I could have said “chatting”, but really the words are synonyms of each other anyway.

It also involved me actually Google searching and going to websites that sold the stuff (including sex shops!), so it’s not like I just typed the word “corset” in gchat and Google went crazy

17

I read the Worst Things For Sale blog and sometimes follow the links so my Amazon suggestions and ads are full of, not only things I’m uninterested in, but plain crap of the highest degree.

18

My annoyance is when I go to the Comcast website to pay my cable bill, and for the next 3 days have Comcast cable ads.

19

Personally, I use multiple browsers. When I go shopping, I use a browser that I’m happy to wipe all history and cookies regularly. My email and bank stuff don’t connect with my shopping habits, ever. PITA? Not at all. Being deluged with glurge because I happened to look up some underwear or something is the real PITA!