Facebook Can Be Funny
Posted in Entertainment and tagged with Advertisement, Facebook on March 25, 2008Have you heard that the Facebook guy, Mark Zuckerberg, is worth $1.5 billion at the ripe old age of 23? There’s a reason for it. Facebook is one of the few Internet sites that is able to specifically target marketing. If you want to run an ad, you can ask that it be run specifically for females between the age of 25-30 that like reading and are located in the Raleigh area, for example. Since you fill out your interests, age, gender, location, relationship status, etc. on your profile, these ads can be strategically placed in the viewing of prospective clients.
That’s what worries me about the ads that I get. They seem to have me pegged (mostly). I get a lot of advertisements for dating sites (one was even specifically targeted for people 25 and up!) and travel opportunities. Other ads, well, I just don’t know about.
Here are a few:
“Cause of belly fat” with a picture of man’s six-pack. Even if I were to say, want to lose some of my belly fat, I don’t want my stomach to look like THAT. I get lots of more targeted ads for weight loss (one I saw today said simply, “You fat?”) which makes me wonder, has Facebook figured out my BMI based on the pictures I have on there? I’d really rather not know!
“Bald hair creme” with a picture of the top of a bald man’s head. Um, I’m not a man, and I have plenty of hair. Shouldn’t this ad have been targeted to someone else?
I get the same “Meet 5 guys” ad that I talked about before, but I actually got one that had pictures on it…of FOUR guys. Is the fifth supposed guy so anxious to meet me too ugly to include his picture?
On the dating topic, one of the more pointed ads advertised “find your husband.” I wish it were that easy!
One I got this morning was just strange. It was for Jansport, the backpack company: “Wherever you go please take us with you.” Nope, I like my old backpack of a competitive brand just fine don’t travel without it. If I brought you along too you’d probably just get in a fight when I wasn’t looking. Plus I’d have to carry one on the front, which would just be suspicious as I go through security.
Another totally random ad was for Philadelphia real estate. I live in North Carolina, why would I buy a house in Philadelphia?
What funny ads have you seen online?
March 25th, 2008 at 10:01 am
It’s the weight loss ones that really get me. I have a hyper thyroid, and struggle to keep my weight UP. I’m luck if I can get it above 100. I’m 13 weeks pregnant right now and 105 pounds… and that’s because I gained weight! And I get these ads saying “lose 30 pounds in one week!” Errr, no thanks!
March 25th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I hate all of the “free ipod” ones. Mostly because I wanted one for the longest time, but couldn’t justify the expense. They don’t bother me anymore though since GB got me one for my birthday :)
Oh, Jansport backpacks? When I was in junior high & high school (1993-1999) Jansports were all the rage, and if you didn’t have one, you weren’t cool…period. My parents wouldn’t buy me one, and I cried…the things that seemed important back then…lol
March 25th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I get ones on Myspace that ask “Are you gay?” and I just don’t know what to think about that. Other than a couple of people in my friends’ list are gay. Perhaps they are using that info.
And I can assure you that you are MUCH more attractive than a bald guy with belly fat. ;-)
March 25th, 2008 at 11:20 am
you know I didn’t realize that they are actually targeting me with a certain ad. I’ll have to pay more attention now. Thanks for informing me, I’ll probably have ads for losing weight on mine that i just didn’t notice before, thinking we all got the same ads. I actually have a face book I think? A myspace, and i just started a BEBO, so this should be interesting.
Dee
March 25th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Well, my facebook just put up an ad to quit smoking. I didn’t post anything in “interests” that say smoking! And I don’t have any pics with me smoking. That’s because I don’t smoke. But apparently facebook is trying to help me stop. So that ad doesn’t reach me. But there is ad that comes up all the time that says “Wish you weren’t lonely?” And has a pic of a guy staring at me. What can I say? Facebook it sometimes a miss and sometimes a dead on HIT!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
LOLOL,
So of course I had to go open my facebook profile once I read this, and you’ll never guess what they had advertized.
A ‘Watch live liposuction’ video. lolol
I bet you’re right, that they put tags on members using stuff from their photos…grrr