Just over a month ago I added Google Ads to my site. I didn’t expect to make any $$ – and so far I’ve earned pennies. That part hasn’t disappointed me, however some of the ads have really disappointed me. For awhile there was an ad for a lesbian meet up site, then some other ad for a homosexual meet up service. Now those didn’t really bother me although I don’t think they were all that relevant to my content. I logged into Adsense and requested that those ads not be displayed, and thankfully they haven’t reappeared. However, this ad over in my sidebar really, really ticks me off:
To me it’s suggesting that if you have a colicky baby that you’re breastfeeding, you should switch to their formula. Ummmm no! Try cutting dairy out of your diet! But thats beside the point. I’m not even sure this ad meets WHO guidelines:
The International Code imposes strict guidelines that prohibit the promotion of infant formula to the public, the promotion of infant formula through health care systems, direct contact between formula companies and mothers, and ensure proper labels on all products describing the benefits of breastfeeding and the dangers of bottlefeeding (see the International Code page on this website for more information).
When I clicked the ad to see where it would take me, I was brought to an online coupon for a free sample of breast-milk subsitute – go on try it ->
What the hell? I’m so angry I can’t even write a post that adequately explains why this type of advertising is so dreadfully wrong!!!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong! Not to mention misleading – as if colic will clear up by switching to formula – only time reduces colic from my personal experience. Sierra outgrew it (thankfully) and I didn’t change anything. Arrgh! So pissed off – must take a shower and go to bed!
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argh it’s like when I get the ones for “lose 10 pounds this week!” and other unhealthy diets :\
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Seriously? That’s sick.
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That is sad. I hate the misconceptions that people have about it all.
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Ya – that’s pretty irritating. I get crazy Google ads on my site sometimes – I have no idea why they think they’re related to my content…
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maybe I can add some input since I had 2 boys with infant milk protein intollerance (commonly referred to as milk allergy).
I truly believe it’s an add for if you already formula feed. The reason I believe that is because you can’t use ‘regular’ formual for milk allergy. So what they’re trying to do is advertise they have a protein hydrolysate (sp? it’s been a few years) formula since the most widely used and recognized is made by Similac. In no way do I believe it’s trying to sway breastfeeding moms over to formula.
And yes, they can and usually do get severe colic from being exposed to dairy if they have the milk allergy. Not fun.
I can go on and on about this subject since I went through it twice, but I just wanted to let you know that I don’t think the ad should have been as disturbing as it was. Of course, they could have worded it a little differently to be a bit clearer. But this is sort of a topic that unless you’ve been through it or are going through it, you don’t fully understand it.
I hope that helps!
If I am not mistaken…. theres a section in your google adsense account that you can block certain ads from appearing. I think by url or something….
The ads on my blog recently have been for the Sardine Diet (what the heck is that?) and for some other diet plan–there’s a picture of a skinny girl in her underwear and a measuring tape wrapped around her waist. Kind of annoying, but not as bad what you’ve had. Bad adsense, bad!