coming to America: region-specific pop-up ads
Posted by adiamondinsunlight on September 28, 2007
The pop-up blocker I use works quite well most of the time - sparing me who knows how many unwanted advertisements. And the pop-up ads that do slip through are often more than entertaining enough to make up for the minor annoyance of deleting them.
They also give me a better appreciation for how finely tuned the art of online advertising has become. The more sophisticated ad generators recognize my IP address as coming from the Middle East, and tailor their pop-ups accordingly.
Hence, the pop-ups I receive often look something like this:
Yes – that’s right. This is an advertisement targeting Arabic speakers who hope to come to the United States, telling them that the US government is promising that 50,000 applicants will obtain a green card. I didn’t click through to see where the pop-up would take me, but I imagine that it goes to one of the many sites that promise to help would-be emigrants with the green card lottery application process.
I’m not in the market for a green card, of course – but I wish best of luck to those who are. As a nation of immigrants, we could stand to be a bit more welcoming to those eager to join us.
