grrrr

[fflo]

I just clicked over to read today's Doonesbury and was greeted by an ad for Capital One featuring a small woman, crunched up in her airline seat and looking horrified at the ass of the not-even-all-that-big fat guy moving, via animation, past her to get to the window seat. "Can't help you there," the text reads, "but... [some bullshit about money]."

Don't know how to cite or steer you to the ad, but, perhaps depending Google has pegged in cookies, you might see it if you refresh the page a few times.

I sent feedback to Google on it. (In part: "I bet Capital One has a helluva lot of fat customers. But now it has one less than it did before.")

This kinda crap, along with the before/after and miracle surgery ads, makes me feel assaulted by my computer monitor. Which is usually my friend, you know?

Comments

[kohkae.livejournal.com]

Blissfully so, the ads are all blocked on that site for me. Good old Norton Internet Security.

I hate that crap though. Even more so because it has nothing at all to do with what Capital One is trying to sell. It's just a complete jab at fat people in a lame attempt at humor. "Oh, hee hee, isn't Capital One funny. Gee, I think I'll use their shit!"

That ad tells you a lot about Capital One's corporate culture. Good thing me and M aren't customers of their's.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I got it on the first shot--three times over to be sure I got it.

I guess I only find it slightly annoying. But certainly not actually funny.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Meaning they repeated it at me three times over because I'd be too dim to get it, not that I downloaded it three times deliberately to be sure I got it.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I can't see any ads on that page either, and I didn't have to pay anyone to block them for me. I just have a hosts file (http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm), a plain text file created from several different free online hosts files that I combined and then added a little to on my own, that blocks 95% of the ads on the Internet. If you have Windows, I can email you a copy of mine if you want, or you could use the one I linked to. If you have Mac or another operating system, there's probably an equivalent file, but I don't know what it is.

Of course, preventing yourself from seeing the ads can also tend to prevent you from knowing about them and sendinding feedback to complain about them. But sometimes limiting the frequency with which you're assaulted can also leave you more energy with which to confront the smaller number of assaults that you still experience or hear about from others.

I notice they don't mind fat people in line at the bank.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Dang, that sucks.

Capitol One is making me all frowny.

[sprig5.livejournal.com]

that's a cool idea to create a hosts file-- i think I may do that.

[sprig5.livejournal.com]

p.s. a few days ago i went to look at the doonesbury cartoon too, and I refreshed the page about 40 times, but the only capital one ad I saw was one where a short guy's trying to play basketball against a tall guy "we can't help you with that").