Google ad campaign-hmmm

[don Arnoldy]

Okay, today is election day... one of the issues on the California ballot is proposition 8—which is a proposed amendment to the California state constitution that defines marriage. It is a hotly contested measure and has been getting lots of advertising—pro and con—for months now.

I just logged on to 3 different forums, on three different topics (none of which are marriage, religion, california, politics, GLBT issues, or anything vaguely related to this measure), one of which is located in the UK. The only thing they have in common are that they display Google ads.

On each of them, the google ad displayed was a "Yes on 8" ad.

I thought Google ads were served based on page content--maybe not exclusively. I am a registered voter in California--but how could the ad server know that? Maybe the people behind this campaign have paid to flood the known cyber-universe with these ads. Maybe its just coincidence. Maybe I'm ranting...I'll go away now.

[ktinkel]

I don’t think it is just you — perhaps something has changed at the Google AdSense program.

Yesterday Macintouch had a little rant because political ads were being placed on its pages as well. The note did not describe the content, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it was like what you are seeing.

Google has been a relatively good citizen about its ads. Perhaps it will back off on its new behavior if they are getting as many complaints as they deserve over this change of direction.

[Kelvyn]

I thought Google ads were served based on page content--maybe not exclusively.
They are served on sites which contain the keywords/phrases that have been bid for. As long as that keyphrase is related in some way to the advertised page content it will be allowed by Google (and by Yahoo). I guess that a lot of money was thrown at this advertising campaign, which I assume was shown to US users only.

[iamback]

I thought Google ads were served based on page content--maybe not exclusively.It's based on at least a combination of page content (keywords advertisers have bought) plus location (your IP address), plus language. But Google hoards personal data and may combine those two things with other "knowledge" about you as well, such as what you search for, or what sites you visit.

[Kelvyn]

But Google hoards personal data and may combine those two things with other "knowledge" about you as well, such as what you search for, or what sites you visit.
I don't think they use such data for serving adwords on site browsing - although it would be useful for marketeers if they did. :twisted:

[iamback]

Well, they won't tell. It's certainly possible they use information gathered from other channels. Even something like the fact you use an iPhone (never mind where or what for) could be factored in in targeting ads.

[dthomsen8]

I don’t think it is just you — perhaps something has changed at the Google AdSense program.
...
Google has been a relatively good citizen about its ads. Perhaps it will back off on its new behavior if they are getting as many complaints as they deserve over this change of direction.
Are the complaints made because people object to more political ads, or because they disagree with the issue or candidate being advertised?

It seems to me that computer and database technology are providing more intrusive methods of advertising, whether political or otherwise, and this trend will continue, regardless of complaints.

[ktinkel]

Are the complaints made because people object to more political ads, or because they disagree with the issue or candidate being advertised? I believe it is because an ad suppporting a controversial political issue was seen as inappropriate on a business site.