Link text is misleading. Author does not try buying from these ads but he does see the videos therein to the end.
the article didn’t answer any of the questions I had that made me want to read it. he used a cheap laptop and disposable credit card and then provides no info pertaining to the logic behind wanting to use them. did clicking the ads infect his computer with viruses? were there hidden fees/identity theft on that credit card?
I didn’t need him to explain that the ads used psychological tricks to target a specific type of consumer, but that’s all he wrote about. thanks, guy, but I knew that part without clicking on them or reading your article.
At the end, he had the products in hand, although he sort of glosses over the buying part. And given the products, I’d say the one weird marketing trick was the most interesting part.
You’ve seen them. Peeking out from sidebars, jiggling and wiggling for your attention, popping up where you most expect them: those “One Weird Trick” ads.
Um, nope… never have, actually. Then again, I started using AdBlock a very long time ago because of obnoxious ads.
Ya know… the ads that slow down page loading, use more computer resources and look like a cracked-out, wild animal with stomach worms (who scarfed down a bunch of neon paint) is vomiting and shitting all over your computer screen?
If Ads weren’t so nasty-looking (and animated), I’d probably not mind them as much and wouldn’t have resorted to using AdBlock. They’re just shooting themselves (and other online ad people) in their own foot by spewing this trash because it keeps people like me from seeing their ads at all.
Then again, I’m probably not their target market anyway.
Aaaaack! My adblock is apparently not working!
Yes, it’s Google’s new Government sponsored surveillance sponsorship adblock cracker which they are introducing at the same time as censoring everything else.
Well, I can understand the cheap laptop as a precaution just in case there was malware involved, also to keep the cookies in a separate ID so that he doesn’t get tagged on his personal profile as being a sucker for clicking on these ads. As the author said, since he didn’t know anything about what was lurking behind the link, he imagined that he could “wake up hogtied on an oil tanker headed to Nigeria”. In the end it was just a long video with the sales pitch at the end, and the safety measures were probably not needed.
Oh, and though you might not have needed him to explain the nuances of the tricks involved, it is reassuring to know that those bogus ads really are bogus. Alex Kaufman’s article was a fun read and reassuring at the same time.
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