Terminalcoffee discussion

Ok, like many of us, I suppose, I've learned to tune out most of the GR advertising. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the ads; that's not my point at all. I understand the ads exist for a reason, this is a free site, etc., and I don't begrudge anyone making money from GR.

I'm more curious as to the nature of the ads and what they mean about us collectively. Does anyone know if the ads target people by gender, book list, or some other factor? I ask because it seems like lately a lot of the ads are aimed at women. Do marketers who use reading see GR as an opportunity to reach women? What do people think? What kind of ads are you getting? Have you ever clicked on a GR ad? Has a GR ad ever inspired you to purchase a product? Anything else?

Ah, the mysteries of Google Adwords. As a former user, I can attest to the utter lack of transparency in that system. The advertiser gets a bill that claims a certain number of clicks, a number which is very difficult to verify.

Sorry -- I detest that side of Google. I realize the money for everything has to come from somewhere. The bid system for determining price per click is confounding and very capricious, I found.

OK, I've vented. Carry on with the discussion.

I'm seeing a lot of ads lately with sexy young women and some sort of blurb about finding out what women want. Do they think I'm a lesbian?

I've thought that too, Sandi. Today's ad seems to be nekkid, too. But yesterday it was about what moms want, I was much less interested. I also get a lot of ads for 10 rules for flat stomachs (bastards) - but that's mainly on Facebook.

And RA, your query: "Has GR ever inspired you to purchase a product" made me guffaw aloud. Other than books, no. A resounding no.

WeightWatchers is spending a small fortune on GoodReads. Do they think we just sit around, eat, and read books?

I have a Weight Watchers ad right now--creepy.

I don't think I've ever been inspired to buy a product based on an online ad. I've become pretty good at mentally blocking them.

In fact, I don't recall the last time I was inspired to buy anything from advertisements. Television? I'm never caught in the situation of wandering into a Ford dealership, applying for financing. Magazines? I don't purchase new makeup, I don't change my brand of razor...

I clicked on the what women want. It's Glam Media -- aimed at publishers who want to attract women readers, i think. Weird.

Today's ad seems to be nekkid, too.

Sally must be getting different ads than me. Could I please get Sally's ads?

:)

The "What Women Want" one is interesting. Are they aiming for men to click it? Women? Both?

Now that I think of it, I don't think a pop-up ad has ever caught my eye, either, except to piss me off.

Aiming at publishers who want to attract women readers.

Ick. I've got an ad for Whataburger salads right now. Are they telling me I need more fast food veggies? Do they think that is the best way to approach all those New Year "I'm going to lose weight" resolutions? With fried chicken on some limp lettuce?

I have the Mom ad, which is a waste on me.

The Gmail ads I get make me laugh. Whenever I have a notice from GR from Trevor, it posts a link to Trevor.com. Same thing from Misha. Actually, those I almost do want to check out just to see what they are... (Mindy.com used to be a porn site.) And then sometimes, I guess when it finds nothing pertinent in my email texts, it will post a French ad (usually a news feed of some sort) b/c I have my language preferences set to French.

I've never bought anything from an internet ad, and I have only clicked on them a couple times out of what's probably a million ads by now. (Once was that damn Dewey book. He was so CUTE!) I would NEVER buy anything from a pop-up, just on general principle.

are there ads on here?

I've got an ad for a book, actually. Sweetwater Gap

http://adblockplus.org/

I supposedly have that on my flock browser. Somehow some of the GR ads get through.

Oh nice! Following the instructions from Gary's link I selected to "always block images from ... " whooooot whoooooooot!

All my peeing standing up bragging has garnered me full-time ads from GoGirl. Don't they understand? I already can!

Wow. I think that would be kinda weird.

And can you imagine if you were peeing standing up in a public stall, and someone noticed that your shoes were facing the wrong way?

I don't know about you, but I would assume tranny before 'Oh, I bet she has one of those Female Urination Devices!'

This is a strange turn of thread. I'm just sayin'....

Not that I wanna distract from the current theme (it's kinda old hat for me), but I added NoScript to my Firefox browser and it seems to have stopped the ads here as well. Bonus!

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire...

http://noscript.net/

To address the original question: I don't think the ads were targeted. I only noticed when a woman in her underwear appeared on my home page. I didn't really pay attention to the others, unless they were slowing down the page load time. Then I cursed them.

My best friend lives in Beijing, and she says that a lot of public restrooms are really just holes in the floor and you have to learn to squat. I would buy the Go Girl things before going to visit her.

yes, "squat" toilets are mostly it in china. and india and prob lots of other places. when you find a "western" style toilet you do the Happy Happy Joy Dance for a full minute

Sarah, when I went to visit my friend in Suwa, Japan the public bathroom where she worked was a hole in the ground. I thought I'd wandered into a shower stall!

But I'm a hoverer anyway, so it didn't bother me. Leg muscles are key.

that and balance

The ad I'm seeing right now is one for advertising online -- I've gotten the impression that the ads are tied to the content of the thread. On the fish oil thread, there's an ad for fish oil. We could test it by starting a discussion with WeightWatchers in the title and see if that ad appears for everybody...