When Banner Ad Placement Goes Wrong

William Haskins

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briquets.png

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BardSkye

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Rather gruesomely funny, though... Gallows humour.
 

Adam Israel

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Once upon a time, I worked with a newspaper interested in putting ads onto their website (before it was commonplace). One of the things we had to do was develop a "sensitivity filter" to prevent ads like that from showing up. Most of the rules centered around alcohol and weapons. Who would have envisioned a grill being used like that? :(
 

Wayne K

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When I lived over the Centre Pub we got a hold of the windowboard and were a little drunk.

For a week no one asked the "BBQ babies" or "Foreskins on a half shell"

There was some weird stuff too:D
 

regdog

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Too appalled and horrified to find any humor in that at all :(
 

CACTUSWENDY

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For the WH ad and story....that is so sick. Makes you wonder who is sitting next to your car at a street light.

Jean...sure they have buns but not sure about the toppings. Two to an adult....sounds like a fulling portion.
 

Perks

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Oh dear god. That'll wake you up. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or write a strongly worded letter.
 

Williebee

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Somebody who looks like me has edited more than a few "Kids Eat Free" marquees.

No good reason. It was just funny at the time. Or maybe just that "he" was the one sober enough to climb the ladder.
 
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Red-Green

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Wow. Just wow. It's hard to imagine how you'd develop a program to filter out something like this, unless you just went by the fairly safe presumption that no article about someone being killed or maimed ought to have a banner ad. I mean, seriously, what are the odds of a barbecue grill coming up in an article about a dead toddler without the grill being an inappropriate item for targeted advertising. Similarly: garbage disposal, wood chipper, etc.
 

WildScribe

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OMG! I'm apparently sick, because I found that sooooo funny. Story very sad, but the banner was out of this world funny!
 

astonwest

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Amusing stuff... :)

But as far as sensitivity filters, maybe they should just set it to only put up ads for lawyers and bail bonds companies on anything with prison or trial in the story. :)
 

Wayne K

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I find Law and Order SVU being sponsored by Viagra a little more disturbing than this.
 

Shamisen

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Best/worst (most insensitive) one I saw was a few weeks back. You may/may not know that Jade Goody, 27 yr old former Big brother contestant and Reality TV 'star' died of cervical cancer a few weeks ago. Very sad of course. Until she became ill she was actually not very well liked, but that's beside the point (she seemed to grow as a person as a result of her illness and that I will respect her for). But she was very well known for not being very clever at all - actually really very stupid - coming out with things on par with Jessica Simpson but rougher. Said things like "Do people in the US speak English?" and "the eyes on peacock's tail feathers - are they their real eyes?" "Is Rio de Janeiro a person?" I'm paraphrasing.

Anyway, website on the day she sadly died displayed the story. Worth noting that she died approx 3am. Banner ad (I think linking to another story)said : National IQ goes up 3 points overnight."

Please don't flame me.
 

Don Allen

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Gives a whole new meaning to "Baby Back Ribs" if you ask me.....
 
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Devil Ledbetter

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Once upon a time, I worked with a newspaper interested in putting ads onto their website (before it was commonplace). One of the things we had to do was develop a "sensitivity filter" to prevent ads like that from showing up. Most of the rules centered around alcohol and weapons. Who would have envisioned a grill being used like that? :(
I wish our local paper was that sensitive. Several years ago they published a newswire story about an elderly woman who crashed her car through the plate glass window of a McDonald's restaurant and died. The headline? McStake.

I wrote to the editor suggesting his staff stop and consider the McGrieving before making lame puns at the expense of the McDead.
 

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I guess 10 years ago our magazine was about to publish a feature story on Piper Aircraft and I was editing it about a week after JFK Jr.'s plane went down (he was flying a Piper, BTW). Well I guess the freelancer either wrote the story before the incident or he had a sick sense of humor, but there in the headline deck were the words "crash landing" - I forget now how exactly it was phrased.

And I said to my boss, um, scuse me .... we can't. We just can't run this. So I changed it.