 |
| source |
One of my favorite things to do on facebook is to X it's little ads on the sidebar if I find them irritating. Facebook (and a lot of similar sites) use the information from your profile (your age, groups you're in, your gender, relationship status, etc.) to target you with ads that you might find appealing. Because obviously you're exactly like everyone else in your demographic group!
Until I realized I could change the ads, I had to deal with a barrage of ads about how to get a flat stomach, with pictures of tan taut abs of what must've been 17-year-olds with a genetic mutation that causes them to not have the ability to retain body fat. The best moment of Facebook irony was perhaps when one of these thin-obsessed ads appeared just below an ad for an eating disorder treatment clinic. Ahh, precious moments. I began telling The Facebook that I found these ads offensive, and eventually they stopped popping up.
But there are other moments of advertising loveliness that are clearly catered to what ad execs assume a 20-something female would want: everytime I visit my boyfriend Meatball's profile, there's an ad on the side for engagement rings or wedding venues or something similarly related to wedding planning. It's insulting that the ads are rarely for things like feminist orgs or nonprofits or anything even remotely empowering or useful. Nope, just stuff to make me feel bad about my body and to remind me that I should be working on gettin' that bling, even at the tender age of 21.
Has FB ever given you a ridiculous, sexist ad? Do you just ignore them, or do you tell them you'd rather not waste your time looking at that shit?
Much love,
The Sheriff
I used to mark a LOT of things as offensive, but it took so much time and effort. Finally I took my gender off my profile, and the ads stopped, but that was back when FB kept hounding you to add a gender. I got annoyed and put my gender back up, and now I just ignore most of the ads I get and mark the really obnoxious ones (I no longer get weightloss ads!).
ReplyDeleteThe greatest trend was when I added more Jew-y stuff to my profile (right before taking my gender) and FB kept giving me Jewish dating ads, one of which started with "FIND A JEWISH HUSBAND!" FB was my own personal Yente from Fiddler on the Roof...
Haha, that's pretty bad. When I used to have "interested in" as both men and women, I got ads about finding lesbian singles pretty frequently. But finding a Jewish husband tops that!
ReplyDeleteI block adverts unless a website specifically requests that I allow them.
ReplyDeleteUsually, I'll do so on small sites and blogs where advert revenue is a big part of their income for monetizing stuff I want them to keep doing. But I don't know that unless they tell me, since I block ads as a general rule. :)
Facebook, though, just gets blocked with no remorse.
I haven't gotten nearly as many sexist ads as I have ads about Republican causes- it must be because I'm listed as a Democrat. I also get ads asking if my Catholic college is Catholic enough (Smith is totes Catholic don't you know)
ReplyDeleteidk, i dont think facebook ads are that bad. except when im single and then all i get is shit like "ARE YOU A LONELY LESBIAN?!" (which, of course, i am). but usually i get gay marriage shit, sales, and advertisements for television that ill probably like. the more your profile reflects your interests, the less general facebook becomes. and, unfortunately, a lot of straight women in college do only care about bodies and boys - so facebook is being pretty smart. few people from umass are going to click something about feminism and the nypd (ironically, these are both ads i have on my facebook today).
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's totally fair to say that a lot of straight women ONLY care about their bodies/boys. It's just that appealing to the anxieties surrounding those things is the most profitable, which is really what facebook cares about.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.... I just tried to see if that was true of my adverts, but all I had were an ad for cute squishy stuffed animals, a romantic comedy movie, an art academy, and spring break rooms. Perhaps because my relationship status is "married" I'm harder to target? (Ah, the benefits of facebook-marrying your friends).
ReplyDeleteOn my 25th birthday I got ads for baby stuff and I asked "was this because the word 'birth' appeared on my wall so many times today?" Because that would have been funny. My friend Heather said, "No, it's because you are now 25 and female."
ReplyDeleteI got a bunch to put a gps on my boyfriends phone to see if he's cheating on me, and a ton for pregnancy. I'm a virgin and my boyfriend is too.
ReplyDelete