I’m a big fan of outsourcing one’s email to Google, and then continuing to use one’s favorite email client. (I’ve never switched away from Eudora.) Accordingly, I rarely use the actual Gmail interface – except when traveling and hence away from my desktop computer.
Recently I have been on vacation, logging directly into Gmail a lot. And so I started noticing the contextual ads that appear above the lists of messages. It turns out that – well, on the whole they’re not terribly contextual. Highlights include:
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Palm-Meow, Inc. – www.palm-meow.com – cat retirement/boarding – Florida Tropical Paradise for Your Cat. This appeared over email that referred to kittens I was seeing (on my trip to Grand Cayman) and elder care issues (in Ohio).
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Spam Imperial Tortilla Sandwiches – To serve, cut each roll in half and, similarly, Ginger Spam Salad – Serves 1, refrigerate overnight. Each appeared over, you guessed it, my Spam folder. Yum!
A dozen more examples, and some related links, may be found here.
What good, bad, or just weird fits have you found between contextual ads and your web mail? Please share!
