Targeted advertising can be pretty creepy, in the way that it demonstrates how much these companies know about you, and what their algorithms suggest they think they know about you. Other times, they’re creepy in their choice of photos to accompany the ads. Today, I bring you these, from a page on Heavy.com:

A few of these make perfect sense. Articles about saving on a mortgage have a picture of a smiling woman holding a piece of paper with the word “APPROVED” stamped on it, which probably prompts some positive cognitive response in viewers; and a picture of a $20 bill folded in half in front of the White House, because, you know, money and stuff. An article about “Fitness Enthusiast” Jen Selter is accompanied by a picture of Jen Selter. No big surprise there, although it makes me wonder why the internet thinks Jen Selter and mortgages are foremost on my mind.

The other ads are a bit more of a mystery, and I do mean that completely sarcastically. Continue reading →

The following ad popped up on a webpage (specifically, a page on ap.org), and I was somewhat confused as to what it was trying to tell me:

Are Texas drivers “furious & shocked” that skinny blonde women will get ticketed for driving in bikinis? Because they should be! That is an outrage!!!

Except no, that’s not it. My curiosity got the better of me, and I contributed to somebody’s ad revenue by clicking on the link. It goes to a page that wants to sell you car insurance. I guess there’s just no effective visual hook for car insurance besides scantily-clad outlaws.

So what’s the rule that’s shocking and infuriating so many Texans? It doesn’t quite say, but it sounds like it has something to do with usage-based insurance, which involves—hold on…..do you actually care? Because I don’t.

Okay, cool. Instead, here’s a GIF of Patrick Stewart dancing: Continue reading →