Click Bait

At the bottom of many web pages are small advertisements. They are commonly called “click bait” – ads that are designed to make you want to touch/click them. Advertisers think they know all about me. What they know is wrong.

For example, I’m constantly bombarded with click-bait ads that say things like:

Petersburg, Virginia Residents Are Stunned By This New Rule

and

New Rule in Petersburg, Virginia

and

Petersburg: This Meal Service is Cheaper Than Your Local Store

Petersburg, Virginia, is a city located in central Virginia, about 20 miles south of the state capital, Richmond. However, I don’t live in Petersburg, so I don’t need to know things that apply to its residents.

When the advertisers aren’t telling me what’s happening in Petersburg, they target me thusly:

Fort Lee, Virginia Residents Are Shocked By This New Law

Fort Lee, Virginia, is a U.S. Army post located near Petersburg. I don’t reside in Fort Lee, either, so telling me about its shocked residents is pointless.

I’ve never lied about where I live. When I’ve been required to enter my zip code on a web page, I always enter my real zip code. I don’t even know any Petersburg, Virginia, zip codes. Why can’t the Internet get this right? It’s bad enough I have to wade through click-bait ads, but having to wade through ads that don’t apply to me even if were in the market for what they are advertising is just annoying. I have a “Song of the Day” topic on this blog. Now I’m thinking of starting a “Gripe of the Day” topic. I would never run out of things to blog about.