Advertising, Ethics, and Blogging, Part I

This is pretty funny. (Or maybe I’ve been spending too much time blogging and it's not funny at all …)

I’ve been wanting to put some ads on my blog, but I don't want ads that I consider unethical.

Google ads are out (see below for some samples). And the ads provided by Typepad, which hosts my blog, weren’t any better. I tried these briefly and not only did I not like the ads that were popping up on my site, but the Typepad click counter was not working properly, which meant I wasn’t getting paid for all the people who clicked through to an ad from my blog. (OK, so I made something like 86 cents one week, but it was the principle of the thing: I should have made at least $2.)

So I decided to go with Amazon, and signed up for its Associates program, which gives me two options: to put ads for specific products, or links to ads for specific products, where I want them (See Calendar Girls for an example of this); or to use the “omakase” option.

“Omakase” is a Japanese word that, in this context, means “leave it up to us.”

Well, that sounds easy enough. Amazon promises that it will scan the content of each page and will place an appropriate ad on that page. “Omakase links will show an Associate's visitors what they're most likely to buy based on Amazon's unique understanding of the site, the user, and the page itself,” Amazon says.

OK. Simple, right? Useful to my readers, and maybe profitable to me.

As a trial, I put the html to make the omakase ads appear on most of the pages in my Medical Mistakes section, which gets a lot of traffic.

This is the funny part, finally: After you read Cancer: Guarding Against Medical Mistakes, you see ads for two movies, "A Month By the Lake," starring Vanessa Redgrave, and "Pride & Prejudice," with Keira Knightly.

After you read Chemotherapy Errors, Amazon's careful analysis of the content of that page has determined you are in the mood to buy "As Time Goes By-Reunion" or "Mrs. Henderson Presents."

Uh huh.

Read Prescription Drug Errors, and Amazon is betting you will be in the mood to buy "Billy Elliot" or "The Camomile Lawn," which begins with a funeral!

Pretty much all chick-flicks, so Amazon’s guess that most of my readers are female is correct, other than that, I give Amazon's omakase a D-.

I’m waiting for an e-mail from Amazon in reply to my question about why it is placing only movie ads on my site (I was expecting books). I’m expecting a canned answer, but we’ll see. I think there are a few real people left working at Amazon.

(Note: by the time you read this, the ads on the pages I’ve mentioned will probably have changed. They rotate on some schedule known only to Amazon.)

What's Wrong With Google?
Search for “cancer cure” on Google and the sponsored links (ads) that appear in the right column include the following: “94% of Doctors Don't Know that you can Beat Stage IV Cancer w/out Chemo, Surgery, or Radiation” (this one is the old, “doctors don’t want to cure your cancer” line); "11 Ways To Kill Cancer"; "Cancer Treatments Your Dr Doesnt (sic) Even Know About!"; "Low Level Radiation From Stones Fight Cancer."

As far as I am concerned, most if not ALL of these advertisers are quacks, and Google should not sell ad space to them. In Australia, the government prosecutes people like these who prey on the fears of sick and dying people.

I’ve fought this battle with Google before, see If It Quacks Like a … Quack and Running With Fear, but so far I haven't reached anyone high enough in the company who can do anything more than spout drivel about "commercial speech." I guess I'll stop by Google headquarters next time I'm in the Bay Area.

What next? Well, if Amazon can’t send appropriate ads to my blog, I can always switch over to Barnes & Noble, which has a virtually identical program (and I like the stores, especially the cushy armchairs), or use Netflix ads (a company I really love—no late fees! I’ve saved a LOT of money on movie rentals already this year, and it’s only January. AND they have a great selection of Japanese movies).

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.