Cool beans. Ya' know, it could turn out that I'm wrong about this. Either way, you don't have to agree with me to be friends, far less to be welcome around here. It's not a big deal.
But, here's the thing. I've wanted to try this for some time. Really, two years ago was the last time I looked into the nitty gritty. At that time, Google didn't provide a way for advertisers to block their ads from turning up where the advertisers didn't want them. Now they have, so this gives me a little more info coming back. Not much, but some.
Here's the gambit. For the most part, people who hosts or contribute to sites aimed at exposing the industry won't take part in advertising programs for all of the reasons ya'll offer here. I think there's a logical in that reasoning. And it goes w/ a defeatist belief about how we can't win in a contest involving money. I don't buy that. Never have.
When Charlie King started it on tbfight.com, I was sort of excited to sit back and see how that would go. He took his ads down because people complained.
Well, Charlie's a far more likable person than I am. Honest to God, even if I value a friendship profoundly, I don't give a flyin run at a rollin' donut if you agree w/ me or not,
unless you can show me that I'm wrong. Even if you hate me over it, I'll still think just the same about you as ever, even though we disagree.
So, I figure I can afford it. People get pissed at me all the time over all kinds of things. Really doesn't bug me, ya' know? And I
want to know!
I've kept a little bit of an eye on Google and AI and net marketing in general. What I think I'm seeing is that it's
extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a bad idea to out bid or out spend a good one in the wilds of Cyberia. Not that there aren't a whole lot of bad ideas out there. Just that they tend to starve to death while the good ones thrive.
And I think that advertising that turns up in the wrong context is counterproductive to the advertiser. Think not? Ok, what happened to John Kerry's military record once the Swift Boat crack pots got done with it? There was his face, his name, pics of him in uniform and frequent, incessant reference to his purple hearts and combat duty. But the
context turned all of that on it's head.
How about the tobacco industry's names and stats? When they say it, when they control the context, it works to their advantage. When Truth gets ahold of the same material, well it seems to be working to reduce smoking among kids in Florida.*
http://www.social-marketing.org/success ... truth.htmlThere are endless examples. And, again, this could fail. I'm prepared for that. It would take me all of about 10 minutes to remove all those ads from everywhere they appear. Then I will have found out what I wanted to know; that I can't boomerang this on the hawkers of fucked up ideas. (at least, not in this way)
But if it works? If it tests out and actually delivers a small revenu stream while promoting good ideas and pimp slapping bad ones AND each advertiser (whether they benefit or get punked) still has to pay to play? Shit, man! There would be a whole lot more websites critical of the industry if everybody could get just that little bit of green stuff to support the effort. So far, I can guess that I've cost the industry maybe... $20; just shy of half of total ad income. What if a thousand sites similar in prevailing opinion to this one were to do it?
Look, I'm watching, studying and, as always, seeking insight and opinions from others. If this pans out, it could be a good thing. If it doesn't, then I'll know. But this is the only way I know to find out. I don't see anybody else trying it for long. I've looked for that from time to time.
Oh, and btw, I got my last bill and it looks like we didn't run up any gigantic bandwidth bills from the Mark Levine show exposure. So no need to panhandle or cry distress or anything. It was only about $20 over the usual. Well worth it, imo.
I'll be moving this discussion over to website hosting, as I want it to continue in that vein. Any thoughtful input or conjecture will be heartily welcome, as always. But I may start a new forum just for conspiracy theories.
*One caveat: While I disagree on a profound level with doing things like this by way of the public sector, I'm not bitchin about this one. It's the sort of thing I actually would support and fund voluntarily if the tax man hadn't already robbed me blind. And the tort settlement, gargantuan as it is, probably doesn't even approach the level of government subsidies the tobacco industry has gotten over the years. So, well, the welfare mamas in Big Tobacco had to pay to advertise against themselves? :rofl:
What's not to love?
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.
--Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
_________________
Drug war POW
Straight, Sarasota
`80 - `82
