Ad Fail
What’s wrong with this picture?
So, uh, I know the Internet makes it hard to filter ads for potential poor taste. But this pairing I just ran across (above) was kind of ridiculous…
It’s a little like advertising “Jaws” on an article about a tragic shark attack. Or some movie about a bombing on a news report of a terrorist attack.
In some ways, it may even be worse, because “Nightmare on Elm Street” is gratuitous – it entertains us with the very idea of gore. At least that’s the theory. While I like thrillers and suspense, I don’t really understand the appeal of gory slashers, especially those helmed by monochromatic evil madmen.
The thing is, the nature of Internet advertising makes these advertising failures even more likely, because it’s (A) automatic and (B) based on keywords. What kinds of keywords are the “Nightmare” promoters likely to put in their ad? Knife, murder, attack… And what’s this article about?
Maybe we should just stop being entertained by gratuitous violence in the first place.
Click here to see what ad you get with this grisly story!