nasty surprise at AltaVista

[Patricia A. Kearney]

Shirl:

I've seen search-related ads on various search engines including Alta
Vista,
though not the "Always" one you encountered. They've been both the
pop-up and
in-line types. For example, I once did a search for the state flower of
Minnesota and received ads for florists. To be honest, I found it quite
interesting that the ads were tailored to match my search.

I don't think you're being overly sensitive, as it's a personal and
highly
subjective matter whether or not something is offensive. It would not
bother me
(although I certainly would have been surprised) but then again I've
grown
accustomed to seeing ads for feminine hygiene products on TV for some
time now.
I think, however, that you might need to try to become "desensitized" to
ads of
this nature, since they aren't going away and in all likelyhood will
increase.
I'm sometimes annoyed by ads because they cause slower page loading, but
I see
them as a necessary evil.

Also, bear in mind that the best way to let a company know you are put
off by
their actions is to avoid using their products. Always probably has a
web site,
and it couldn't hurt to e-mail them stating that you were offended by
this ad
and wouldn't patronize them because of it.

Patty Kearney
MLS Graduate, Florida State University
warwell1 at ibm.net

P.S. Minnesota's state flower is the ladyslipper, for anyone who might
care.


Shirl Kennedy wrote:

> Aaaagh!
>
> Just popped over to AltaVista to do a quick search in response to a help-me
> message posted on another mailing list (and to distract myself from the
> noise of the plumber at work on my bathtub drain...on the weekend, at the
> higher "emergency" rates).  Someone was looking for statistics on the
> purchasing power of women.  Used the advanced search form and typed in:
>
> women and "purchasing power"
>
> When the results came back, I was horrified to be confronted by a pop-up ad
> for Always "feminine hygeine products!  Tried the search again, just to
> verify what I had seen.  And there it was again, the dreaded "Always" pop-up
> ad!  I can only surmise that it appeared in response to the search term
> "women."
>
> Is this something new?
>
> Has anyone else seen an instance of this in response to other search terms
> at AltaVista?
>
> Does this mean I now need to disable JavaScript before searching on
> AltaVista?
>
> Am I being overly sensitive to be grossed out by this?
>
> Shirl Kennedy
> Internet Waves columnist
> Information Today
> Best Bet Internet
> http://www.ala.org/editions/openstacks/bestbet/index.html