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Yahoo News Posts Advertisements as News
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Thu Jan 10, 2002 03:54 PM
from the sinking-to-a-new-low dept.
from the sinking-to-a-new-low dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo is now putting ad banners as news stories. This is highly misleading and is an awesome way to sell out."
I don't really think Yahoo has been sold in in a few years, but this
is a new level of yucky. No doubt it is a sign of things to come:
the news is the ad. The ad is the news. It's one step worse then the
bizarre advertising/news merge that was amazingly evident when Disney/ABC was doing
with Monsters Inc while Time/Warner/AOL/CNN was hyping Harry Potter.
Oh, in case they change it, basically they have a list of news stories,
and one of them links simply to a page advertising (not surprisingly) X-10. The link isn't marked as an ad -- its simply one of the headlines in
the news list. It's one thing to have more ads... it's another to
simply disguise the ad as actual news. Update The ad was yanked.
For those who missed it, there were a dozen news articles, but one
was an advertisement. It was indistinguishable from the actual news.
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Yahoo News Posts Advertisements as News
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Are you sure? (Score:4, Redundant)
Is this all we're talking about, or is there something more "sinister" going on that I missed?
Re:Are you sure? (Score:5, Funny)
I've been to yahoo news quite a bit, and occasionally, a link goes bad, but still triggers the ad.
Taco should know this too. Slashdot goes down every once in a while (usually jsut a DB thing, but it happens). Yahoo is run by humors. To err is human...
Re:Are you sure? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:As A Bat (Score:5, Informative)
Half the headline links DO point to non-yahoo sites, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if one of those sites use those newfangled interrupting ads that make you wait 10 seconds or some crap before the actual page appears. I've seen ads like that break on more than one occasion, and I wouldn't be surprised if thats what caused the fuss.
X10 ads and why I loathe them (Score:5, Interesting)
No, what I objected to was the content of the ads. Now, call me a prude if you must, but frankly I am turned off by a company who will insist on popping up ads which feature shots of cameras panning over scantily-clad females and lingering on the cleavage whilst accompanied by a tag line reading "see what you're missing" or "who knows what you'll see?". Okay, so I'm an adult -- what about those parents who (rightly or wrongly) wish to be able to have their children surf the Net through a supposedly safe medium such as Yahoo and not be inundated with sleazy ads?
We all know that children aren't safe from the spammers or the mistyped domain names that have been pounced upon by the porn people; but they're up-front (yes, ha-ha, no pun intended) about their intentions. X10, on the other hand, is just being tacky, and overloading at least this particular consumer with their tackiness.
By the way, I also pointed out to them that, for what it was worth, I am probably in one of their prized target demographics -- early 30s and technically astute with a reasonable amount of disposable cash.
No reply from X10 customer service so far. There's a surprise.
You can easily disable ALL X10 Ads. (Score:5, Insightful)
They even allow you to run a cookie which will completely disable X-10 Ads. All you have to do is click here [x10.com] and it X-10 ads will never again appear for the next month or so, then just click on it again to reset the cookie.
It isn't that hard folks....theres no need to bitch about it, just fix it!
Re:You can easily disable ALL X10 Ads. (Score:5, Informative)
If all you have to do to get me to stop leaving burn bags of dog crap on your front porch is to ask me, does that make it ok for me to leave those shitbombs until you say otherwise? (With the understanding that I'm free to start up again in a months time unless you keep repeating your request?)
Annoying and rude behavior is not ok even if the offendor agrees to cut it out when asked.
Nothing really new, just a continuation of a trend (Score:5, Interesting)
The only difference is that in this case the ad is paid for and presented as news instead of being "free" for those places that write their own press releases.
"Highly Misleading"? No, not really... (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, you don't have to like this type of advertisement and there can be thoughts about the 'psudo journalism' feel of it, but as long as it says that it's an add, how is it any different from the "Special Advertisement Section" that shows up periodically in Newsweek, Discover, Sports Illustrated, etc.? Just ignore it and continue reading what you want to read....
-Mark
Its not Yahoo (Score:5, Interesting)
They do it on TV, too (Score:5, Insightful)
I quit watching TV as a teen because I was tired of the brainwashing. These days if I'm visiting someone who has it on I will watch with them so as to not be a snob. Recently I caught a little bit of Good Morning America. I was amazed by how much of the show is blatant advertising for products. My friend said most other "information" shows on TV are the same way. Every outlet in our culture is being geared towards the Consumerist movement.
So now the "News" sites on the Internet are doing the same thing. It's sad to see the progression of the Internet from a bastion of equal speech to yet another Consumerism-in-overdrive medium.
If slashdot starts redirecting the "Reply" button to ad sites, I'll post all my karma-capped UIDs/passwords on a first-come, first-served basis. The advertisers will win, and so will the trolls.
How to find the perpetrating Ad... (Score:4, Redundant)
2. Refresh page until right side banner shows Techno Scout with links below it...
You may notice a single word disclaimer above the banner that says, "Advertisement"
A reasonable person should easily be able to tell the difference...
Slashdot Posts Yahoo Ad As Genuine Post! (Score:5, Funny)
I think Slashdot was Trolled (Score:3, Redundant)
It think it's slimy of the advertiser, but I wouldn't blame Yahoo for it. I got caught by it once before, but since then mentally block it out.
Victoria's Secret vs X10 (Score:5, Funny)
Some more tips. (Score:3, Funny)
Mix up the headlines, so when you click on a legitimate headline, it takes you to some random advertisement site instead, preferably one selling an x10 camera or helping you find your old classmates.
If you want to make even more advertising revenue, try sending the user to 10 or so advertising sites, more sites = more $$$.
Have advertisments that fly around the screen in front of what they are trying to do. They will be impressed by this technical feat.
Use lots of blinking. Nevermind that someone will probably get a seizure and sue you, blinking lights make people want to buy things.
Use really big animations and lots of them so the page will take a long time to load. Many people are impressed by lengthy download times.
I'm sure there are many others.
It sounds like Yahoo is well on their way to tricking users, er, generating more advertisment revenue.
Tested Links...no ads (Score:3, Interesting)
If you can't replicate a situation, it cannot be taken as fact. Since the link in question wasn't included, it's impossible to say what really happened. However, (prefaced with IANAL) this kind of "news" reporting treads dangerous ground, as you're saying something that's potentially defaming a corporation and there's no viable proof. Editors, be more careful next time. I don't want to see this site die in a cyberspace libel suit (or something similar).
Slashdot Plans to Run BIG ANNOYING ADS Soon! (Score:3, Insightful)
For those who missed it, about two months ago Rob posted an article here explaining that Slashdot was seriously considering running large ads (kinda like CNet, etc) and possibly pop-ups, etc sometime in the first quarter of 2002 (ie. about now) too since standard banner ads aren't getting enough click-throughs.
Oh boy, it's going to be interesting to see the backlash from readers here when the BIG ANNOYING Yahoo like ads showup here on Slashdot - then perhaps Rob's article was just a red herring to test the waters so to speak to test reader reaction to Yahoo like advertising so Slashdot can see how aggressive they can be with their own advertising. Enjoy the final days of relatively ad-free Slashdot...
Wow, ya know.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyways.. to recap my post.. Advertising is not a sin to me - we've had to deal with misleading adverisiments in printed press for a long time. I think the group personality here lends itself to sensationalism way too easy. Me, i'd rather see 5 banner ads on CNN than have to pay for CNN. Its not 1992 anymore, and websites carry a LOT more data than before. The internet has become a part of our economy - not a novelty relegated to just a few fortunate souls in acadamia and dialup ISP patrons browsing websites served on T1's. This is the multimedia internet, and while you or I may or may not like the barrage of images and sounds, i'd be willing to bet Joe America uses it - or else it wouldnt exist. 'Tis the nature of capitalism.
I've posted a proposed end-users bill of rights in my journal. I'd love to hear more thoughts about it. I asked slashdot about it, and, somehow, the entire post was marked as "Rejected" as soon as the submit page came back up. Interesting, eh?
Maybe new to the web. . . (Score:3, Insightful)
Magazines and newspapers have adds like these all the time. Every so often I come across an interesting headline, but about three paragraphs I start to wonder. Sure enough, there's a tiny "advertisement" on the bottom of the page.
Some of the slicker ads on tv could pass themselves of as regular tv. Anyone see the adds for blimpie sandwhiches which looked like CNN segments?
Even on radio, at least locally, there are bits that sound like "man at the field" reports, but are in fact paid ads for a car dealer or grocer.
Just my opinion here, but I thought the slashdot crowd was by definition smart enough to know when to call a spade a spade. Geeks and nerds are also supposed to be savy to pop culture, but the crowd here is so sensitive to ads as to be quite incredible. Please get a grip everyone.
Foxnews and Subway (Score:3, Informative)
I think that was the day I stopped watching TV news for good.