Great Moments in Blog Advertising

One of the funny things about blogging is the fact that the medium allows placement of ads based on automated searches of content – usually specific text or links in the blog posts or comments. I’m not sure exactly how all of this works, but apparently these searches are not very good at judging the context of the links or phrases used to place the ads.

I’ve written a series of posts ripping Mitt Romney, including one where I mocked him for placing campaign ads on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, where the audience most likely thinks him to be a complete phony, flip-flopping, idiot! Shortly thereafter, ads started popping up on Left-Over for the pro-Romney book, A Mormon in the White House: Ten Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney. I’m sure our readers have those books flying off the shelves!

But here’s my favorite so far, captured in a screen grab from The Huffington Post, with headline coverage of the Larry Craig scandal, which has dominated the site for a couple of days. Take a look at the banner ad on top of the screen, and the alternating version which I’ve pasted on the bottom. Apparently, the high frequency of references to “leg moving and foot tapping” have gotten the attention of the Pharmaceutical Industry!


(click to enlarge)