coffeebuzz | The day I broke Facebook's Artificial Incompetence advertising algorithm (Reply)

Or at least made it work really hard.

So every once in a while I have one of those days where half of my feed is nothing but ads and the ads are very weird and mostly irrelevant to me... Today was apparently Ad Day. When I see ads I usually will hit the X and say I don't want to keep seeing that ad and then I will hit the thing that says to hide all by that advertiser. Of course normally that just makes Facebook keep showing me that same ad twice or three times as often as it did before and I keep telling it to go away and after a while it does. Maybe. If it doesn't, I eventually find a way to block the page that sending it which usually involves reporting the ad for harassment and then I'm finally presented with an opportunity to block the page.

With me so far?

This morning, before I was even out of bed, it was giving me ads for clothing for short men. I'm short, but I'm a cis woman, so I guess Facebook needed coffee as much as I did right then. I told these ads to go away and went in search of caffeine.

Next up on the ad parade were a whole bunch of ads for items described as devices to rejuvenate the vajayjays of postmenopausal women. So, vibrators. Seventeen different ads for vibrators. In a row. Now, I've got nothing against a good vibrator, but c'mon. I'm not trying to start a collection over here, and I'm not looking to open Vibrator Warehouse. So I told them to go away, too.

Then came the ads for bras for women with small breasts. (HA, Facebook has obviously never met me! I suppose the ads for men's clothing should have been my first clue.) I said “Yeah, no.” Which then brought on a wave of ads for various versions of feminine hygiene products I no longer need (see: postmenopausal woman) and various Viagra substitutes...

After I made those go away, I began getting ads for pregnancy trackers, and after I told THOSE to go away, I began getting ads for lesbian dating sites. (I mean, okay, but I'm straight, so... ) I told the lesbian dating sites to go away and then started getting ads for various Solitaire games.

You cannot make this stuff up!

Oh, Facebook. You were trying SO HARD to entertain me, and you succeeded, but not at all in the way you meant to!