This Week in Badvertising
Facebook is a pit of terrible, terrible advertising. As someone who works in advertising, I cringe every time I see examples of bad targeting, bad copy, and bad strategy. But there’s one ad that keeps popping up on my Facebook sidebar that I have to address. This one:
I am not thirtysomething. I am not very gay. I am not way too single. I do live in Manhattan, but as I’ve established, the thought of Carrie Bradshaw makes me drunk on rageahol. How did this ad show up in my sidebar? Isn’t Facebook supposed to be a treasure trove for great target advertising? The personal data that I enter should make it quite clear that all of the claims in this ad are untrue.
And more troubling: “SGM in New York? Wannabe?” What the hell does that even mean? “Man, I really enjoy my heterosexual long-term relationship, but I’ve always wanted to be a single gay male in New York!” Man, that thought crosses my mind every single day.
I don’t even know what this ad is selling me, but they’ve got the wrong guy.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 am and is filed under Geekery. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
John Barleycorn says:Funny, I’m gay and I’ve never seen that ad on Facebook.
I’m confused about the “Wannabe” word. Are they calling you a wannabe? The spelling would suggest such. Or are they asking if you want to be single, gay, and in NYC? Who would honestly want to be single, gay, and in NYC (besides the NYC part)?
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
lozo says:i’m just saying. you’re hugging dudes and blogging about sailors. maybe they know something.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Annie in MN says:Did you click on it to find out what they were actually trying to sell you?
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
jane says:Those FB ads are for $#*!. They clearly are not well targeted - you should see some of the crap that comes up on mine.
Lozo, V.funny btw.