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Gmail's Irrelevent Ads Need An Update

If you're a Gmail user and you're in the ad business, you've noticed how ridiculously irrelevant some of the text ads are. Such as: after asking about a certain upcoming party, one user reported receiving an ad for "Bachelor Party Strippers," with a Web link for www.latinasongrind.com. Another referenced British pop singer Lily Allen in a message, and was hit with a link for www.bonniesplants.com, which was selling "Lily and Lotus Plants."

The idea of putting text ads on email messages isn't a bad one. It costs Google next to nothing to deploy its AdWords system on an email page; at worst, it's just incremental revenue. Even Google would have to agree that the system could use an upgrade. But sifting through emails can produce a great deal of information about a consumer. It can also lead to some false--and downright bizarre--presumptions.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »

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