The Corner

Let me tell you what that article says.

There’s a new Obama ad called “1982″ which basically claims that McCain is computer illiterate because he can’t use a computer, nor does he know how to send email.  The ad also makes other points about McCain.

At first, I thought, that not being able to send an email and not knowing how to use a computer was just a sign of how far removed from reality McCain is, but then I came across that “The Corner” article, and a couple of others.

Turns out, McCain can’t send an email because he can’t type.

He can’t type, because of his war injuries.  Since he can’t type, he doesn’t email, so why bother to learn how to do it.  He’s got people that can do that for him anyway, right?  I feel like the Obamians could’ve done a little bit more research, or perhaps not been as deceiving in their claims about what it means that McCain can’t use a computer.

The people at “The Corner” bring up an interesting point about this.  Obama’s campaign seems to imply that since McCain can’t use a computer, he’s not qualified to be president.  Pretty much the same way that McCain’s people argue that actually being in a war makes someone more qualified to be commander in chief.

I don’t know where this is going, but I can tell you that there is always more than meets the eye when it comes to political ads.

Here’s the ad for your amusement:

Learn how to get your ex to return your calls!

This next one is for the UK’s Office of General Commerce, you need to tilt your head to the side to get the full effect

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about Google’s advertising program. I think that it’s against google rules to talk poorly about them, but this is just too much. In a nutshell, the program works like this: advertisers create ads that Google then pushes out to content producers/ providers so the ads can be displayed on relevant pages. As a content producer/ provider, I get a cut of the ad revenue whenever someone clicks on the ad. The advertisers use “Adwords” and the publishers place “Adsense” ads on their pages.

As an adwords advertiser, you can use a technique called “dynamic keyword insertion.” Basically the ad replaces a word in the ad copy with a keyword on the page. The only real requirement is that the inserted keyword has to physically fit in the space alloted for it within the ad.

When applied properly, it produces an ad that perfectly matches the page or whatever keyword the person is searching for. It’s a thing of beauty. When it doesn’t work, it’s just embarrassing. Take this for instance:

I have a post on this page where I’m talking about the cyclone that hit Burma. I talk about all the people that died there, and how the gummint over there is killing their own people. The best ad that they can come up with to post on this page, is an ad for “Myanmar Ringtones”?

What does that sound like?

Howling wind, houses falling over, people drowning? What kind of a ringtone is that?

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, you can argue that I should write more targeted posts, meaning posts that target a specific keyword or whatever. Well, there’s a whole industry that does just that, but that’s another story. I guess I wouldn’t be so miffed if I’d written a story about Justin Timberlake, and the ad said something about getting Justin Timberlake ringtones, that would be a better fit, but “Myanmar Ringtones”?

They could’ve put ads for dishwashers, ads for weight loss products, lots of different things.

Maybe I just caught it at the end of a product rotation, and those ringtone ads were the last left. Google only gets paid when someone clicks an ad, so I guess they have to display all their inventory if they want to make any money. I’m really not hating on Google, I’m just hating the limitations of the system.

OK, enough of the whining. I think I’m going to go drink for whining.

Actually, I think I’m just going to go to bed. I’m getting grumpy. Hopefully, I’ll still have an adsense/adwords account tomorrow or whenever the next time they look over the network and figure out that someone’s been talking trash.

Maybe I’ll come to my senses in the morning and delete this post before anyone notices it. I just had to get these frustrations out.