The other morning, Facebook spent the ad money spent by my good friends at Intellivision Productions to remind me that I already “like” them. I had to grab a screencap and add my own commentary.
Yeah, this is exactly the person I picture as being a future substance abuse counselor. (Or is this stock photo supposed to represent the addict?) 😯
Straight into paradise for hours five, y’all. Every time takes on disco!… Read more
Yesterday I railed against what seemed like an oddly inappropriate choice of stock photo for a Facebook ad promoting grants and scholarships for dads wanting to go back to school. It would seem that my concerns have been heard, and the photo has been replaced by…
…the GEICO caveman?!? I’m expecting a stock photo of Verne Troyer next.… Read more
For some reason, the Firefox plugin I have that has so successfully hidden Facebook ads has suddenly stopped working. So I’m getting the sidebar ads again. No real biggie, I’m sure someone will figure out how to defeat them again. But in the meantime, I’m somewhere between chuckling and going “WTF?!?” at this sidebar ad that’s popped up a few times over the weekend:
Okay, Facebook. WTF? Are the ads just pulling random images across the board? Or is this the advertiser’s idea of what dad is really going back to college for?… Read more
Remember “Alien Nation“, where all of the aliens had the names of famous dead people? Maybe this gem from my inbox this morning is kinda like that.
If you’re interested in showing up as a first page result for more search terms on google and yahoo, reply back with all addresses you’re looking to promote and the best number to contact you with details.
Sincerely,
Victor Hugo
Wow, Victor, that’s quite a generous offer. I suppose that you’re saying that if I took you up on that, I might be… well… less miserable?… Read more
You know, I have nothing against ABBA or musicals based on the works thereof. But the e-mail I got from Amazon UK this morning just makes no sense. See if you can follow the logic here:
We recommend: Mamma Mia! [DVD] [2008]
DVD ~ Meryl Streep
RRP: £21.99
Price: £7.98
You Save: £14.01 (64%)Recommended because you purchased or rated:
* Doctor Who – The Mark Of The Rani [DVD] [1985]
* Doctor Who – The Claws Of Axos [DVD] [1971]
* Doctor Who – Vengeance on Varos [DVD] [1963]
I have a feeling that only the broadest connection possible applies here: you bought shiny round things from us a few years ago, therefore you simply must be interested in this shiny round thing, because everyone who likes shiny round things at all likes this particular shiny round thing. Trust us. We’ve asked them. All of them.
I know marketing is an inexact science, but come on, the logic on this one is grope-in-the-dark voodoo, people. 😆 … Read more
If there’s anything more insidious than just damned spam, it’s porn spam. And even worse than that is porn spam carried over to the edge of English-as-a-fourth-language illegibility and dropped off without a care. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here’s the basic formula:
1. Word 1 = Some saucy adjective
2. Word 2 = Slang noun for a woman of loose virtue
3. Word 3 = Some racy verb
4. Word 4 = Some synonym, sometimes very distantly related, for “man”
5. Intersperse random characters through the statement resulting from the above random generation to try to get past the Bayesian filters.
My all-time favorite result of the above random generation technique arrived in my inbox this morning:
AWARD-WINNING FLOOZIE SERVICES HUMANITY
(That’s with all the random letters removed.)
Two thoughts spring immediately to mind: … Read more
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