Is it Possible That I'm Gay?

[Mike]

The Chicago Tribune thinks I am. I can't recall exactly which articles I've clicked on in the past couple of months, but I'm now seeing all the ads by Trib advertisers who are catering specifically to the LGBT community. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

I think I'm pretty straight, but now I'm confused. I've never felt attracted to men, but a web advertising algorithm surely can't be wrong, can it?

 

This is new territory for me.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

This is new territory for me.

 

That's what they all say.

[Buffalo Bob]

Is it possible that you're a lesbian trapped in a man's body?

[Gregori]

Sometime recently, you must have been looking at interior decorating websites - must be the cabin!

 

That, or you've been caught using a color name other than the eight that are authorized for man-use: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Brown, Black, and White. (Purple is sometimes allowed.) If, however, you've described something as Mauve, Aqua, Eggplant, or worse - Periwinkle (is that a color?) then you're doomed.

 

 

[Mike]

Sometimes these "smart" web campaigns just aren't that smart. When the Costa Concordia sank a few months ago, one news website that I came across had an ad for Seabourn Cruises (a very high-end cruise line) positioned right next to a photo of the stricken Concordia. It was, of course, pretty macabre. I don't imagine that they sold too many cabins based on that ad.

 

Yet, somewhere some dude in an ad agency who was responsible for the campaign was heading off to lunch in his Bentley.

[1MPH]

Anything is possible.

[Whip]

Could happen to anyone.

[DiggerJim]

Is it possible that you're a lesbian trapped in a man's body?

Reminds me of that old joke:

 

An old cowboy sat down at the bar and ordered a drink. As he sat sipping his drink, a young woman sat down next to him. She turned to the cowboy and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"

He replied, "Well, I've spent my whole life, breaking colts, working cows, going to rodeos, fixing fences, pulling calves, bailing hay, doctoring calves, cleaning my barn, fixing flats, working on tractors, and feeding my dogs, so I guess I am a cowboy."

 

She said, "I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women. When I shower, I think about women. When I watch TV, I think about women. I even think about women when I eat. It seems that everything makes me think of women."

 

The two sat sipping in silence.

 

A little while later, a man sat down on the other side of the old cowboy and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"

 

He replied, "I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian.

[AdventurePoser]

Anything is possible.

[elkroeger]

Well aren't you the lucky duck! Apparently I've got acid reflux, CPD, RLS, gout, low-T, psoriasis, arthritis and ED.

 

Aw, damnit!

 

(actually, have you considered that your kid or wife has been clicking on those links?)

 

 

[Mike]

Well aren't you the lucky duck! Apparently I've got acid reflux, CPD, RLS, gout, low-T, psoriasis, arthritis and ED.

 

Aw, damnit!

 

(actually, have you considered that your kid or wife has been clicking on those links?)

 

 

It's my iPad. No one else uses it. I may have to clear my cookies...but I'm kind of getting a kick out of it. Which concerns me.

[tallman]

Didn't they teach you in law school to never ask a question

unless you already knew the answer?

 

 

[Gregori]

Serious answer:

FWIW - clearing the cookie won't help you. (At least - not much.) The ads are driven by data you can't get to. However, Google will graciously allow you to modify or remove the ad categories that you're shown...

 

http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/

 

There are a number of links on the page, and you can (theoretically) opt out of targeted ads entirely. However - Google is only one player in the targeted ad business, albeit the big one.

[Rougarou]

Use Firefox, get the AdBlock Plus add-on, absolutely no advertisements, none, zilch, nada. I don't even get any of those "float up", "float bys" and even the embedded advertisements in pages don't come up. For my job, it is an authorized browser too

[upflying]

Was this one of the ads you saw in the Chicago Tribune?

[Mike]

No, but it's interesting that you mention that. We've owned three Subarus. They, of course, are an LGBT-friendly company. Just for giggles, I visited the Trib site using my Mercury browser set to Privare Browing, and they now think I need a handyman and a chicken sandwich.

[Albert]

Mike, do your shoes and belt match your man purse? That could be a tip off. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Mike]

I'm always fully coordinated. At least I think I am. But, I have a secret advantage, being an avid fan of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

 

I've often said that I have more gay friends than any other straight American man. Maybe I've picked up on a few of their traits. Not necessarily a bad thing.

 

For me the hilarity in all of this is how dumb directed marketing can be.

[Mister Tee]

Hmm. Ask yourself a series of questions:

 

1. What might you purchase at Autozone?

 

a. Self pleasurement aids.

b. Amusement ride passes.

c. Car parts.

 

2. A stranger walks up to you and asks if you can hook him up with a fag. You:

 

a. Walk off quickly.

b. Hand him a cigarette.

c. Pull out your Ipad and do a hasty search for the nearest seedy motel.

 

3. A Scottish cowboy approaches your animal herd. You:

 

a. Fear your sheeps' virtue may be at risk.

b. Fear your own virtue may be at rist.

c. Wonder if you can compete will all those good looking sheep.

 

 

[ratfink]

I was parking my RT as two teenage boys walked by. One of them said "Hella nice bike" A clever play on words with the prominent Hella covers on the driving lights.

 

His buddy replied "BMW's are gay"

[Albert]

I was parking my RT as two teenage boys walked by. One of them said "Hella nice bike" A clever play on words with the prominent Hella covers on the driving lights.

 

His buddy replied "BMW's are gay"

 

No, just the BMW's with Hellas are gay. Hella is like a peach colored ascot or a pinky ring on a BMW. BMW's with PIAA's are definitely not gay.

[majrosebud]

Don't worry. Being a homosexual is just like being a heterosexual, only gayer.

[Ken H.]

Let's be careful we don't turn this original thread about bad target marketing into a gay bashing one, ok?

[Albert]

Let's be careful we don't turn this original thread about bad target marketing into a gay bashing one, ok?

 

Well, rest assured on my part it's all in good fun. My daughter and son in law are pretty good friends with a gay couple. We've been to their house on several occasions for parties as well as other get togethers and had a great time. I'm poking fun the way I would - say, at expat Americans.

[majrosebud]

I totally concur with you Albert.

[upflying]

No gay bashing from me, I live in the SF Bay Area.

I work with them, never met a bad gay.

If this was 40 years ago, then I would have had a problem.

[EffBee]

I'M NOT SHOUTING OR MAD, BUT I NEED YOU ALL TO STOP AND READ THIS.

SOMEWHERE THERE WAS A REALLY GOOD QUESTION ABOUT OUR ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING MARKETING AND OUR COMFORT LEVEL WITH EFFORTS TO REACH US OUTSIDE OF OUR SPHERE OF ORIENTATION. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS THREAD HAS SPIT OUT A COUPLE OF BORDERLINE OFFENSIVE AND OUTRIGHT OFFENSIVE COMMENTS. THIS IS NOT JUST BECAUSE IT HAS NO PLACE HERE (WHICH IT DOES NOT), BUT ALSO BECAUSE WE DO HAVE GAY MEMBERS WHO RIDE WITH US AND WHO PARTICIPATE HERE. SO IT'S VERY PERSONAL TO SOME.

 

I'M NOT SHUTTING IT DOWN. I'M ASKING ALL OF YOU TO GET BACK ON TOPIC. OPEN ADVERTISING TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY SEEMS TO BE GAINING A FOOTHOLD IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA. HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT IT AND WILL IT HAVE ANY EFFECT ON US?

[Shiny Side Up]

Pretty interesting how the marketing people work.

Not sure how they sift thru the information but there are some shrewd people doing this.

They do make mistakes - I used to get wig catalogs. Don't have a balding problem and I'm not a female!

 

Sometimes I wonder if someone just played a practical joke on me.

 

My wife got some reloading catalogs from a well known company - how she got on that list is anyone's guess!

[upflying]

OPEN ADVERTISING TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY SEEMS TO BE GAINING A FOOTHOLD IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA. HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT IT AND WILL IT HAVE ANY EFFECT ON US?

Ok, I'll start. I will treat any LGBT advertising like I do all other advertising, I ignore it.

The only time I pay attention to advertising is during the Super Bowl.

[Dave McReynolds]

how she got on that list is anyone's guess!

 

Have no idea how your wife got on that list....However, one time several years ago I was picking up some wine at the last minute for a party I had been invited to, so I stopped by a BevMo store close to the party. The wine had a discount if you were a BevMo member, and they needed an email address to become a member. My wife still curses whenever she gets a BevMo ad on her email, and wonders how they ever got it because SHE has never bought anything that she can remember from BevMo.

[Mike]

I suppose some of it must work and you have to bear in mind that the cost per view is exceptionally low, I guess.

 

I can't claim to never have been influenced by a "targeted" web ad, but I can claim unequivocally that I've never clicked through on one and subsequently made a purchase of that product. When they are clearly off-target, it does reinforce how continuously we are bombarded with efforts to cleverly identify us as potential clients.

 

I'd guess that we'll see increased sophistication over time, but much of it seems pretty crude to me.

 

As a not-too-unimportant aside, I apologize to those whom I may have offended . . . or if I invited inappropriate comments. I'm about as great a proponent you'll find of the "live and let live" ethos. A number of gay gents are among my closest friends. They, incidentally, are about as inappropriate and self-deprecating as can be regarding their orientation. We just need to guard against going past the line of silliness, into ridicule.

 

I do think, though, that it's hilarious that such a fundamental element of one's personality can be mistakenly associated with a targeted advertising campaign. It's stoopid.

[beemerman2k]

To me, targeted advertising has a ways to go. Even on Facebook my page is lined with ads that for the most part, have nothing to do with me. I would expect very targeted ads in that environment.

[Shiny Side Up]

how she got on that list is anyone's guess!

 

Have no idea how your wife got on that list....However, one time several years ago I was picking up some wine at the last minute for a party I had been invited to, so I stopped by a BevMo store close to the party. The wine had a discount if you were a BevMo member, and they needed an email address to become a member. My wife still curses whenever she gets a BevMo ad on her email, and wonders how they ever got it because SHE has never bought anything that she can remember from BevMo.

 

Ok - I'll come clean - I was the one who put her name on the reloading catalog list...

Let's keep this to ourselves - huh??

[Ken H.]

It (the original post) does bring up a good point, and question - should we be concerned about how we can be inaccurately profiled? Specifics aside. Joel Stein (of the LA Times and Time magazine) did a pretty good piece about a year ago where he pulled all the info on himself from as many data warehouse sources he could get to (as a journalist) and it was surprising how much of it was wrong.

 

As this type of research is more and more being used for more serious things than target advertizing, e.g. job checking, credit checking, etc. it seems a concern not only how much is out 'there’ about each of us, but how much of it could be wrong. And what can we do about it?

[elkroeger]

Okay, after further consideration... it seems plausible that my earlier comment may be construed as lumping homosexuality in with various diseases and physiological problems. I hope nobody misunderstood. I was poking fun at the vast majority of advertising that's on during the evening news: Pharmaceuticals for baby boomer white guys. Nobody else watches the news??? I've had it up to here with commercials.

 

carry on.

[elkroeger]

Hmm. Ask yourself a series of questions:

 

1. What might you purchase at Autozone?...

 

 

When are you gonna post the answer sheet?

[tallman]

Won't it be nice when we don't feel compelled to say,

 

 

some of my friends are

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

motorcycle riders...

[Kathy R]

You know, I must have found a way to view newspapers and such while mentally blocking the ads! I can't tell you what ads are following me around these days. I'm the viewer that the algorithm fears

 

For the first year I was on fb the ads consisted of incredibly good looking grey haired guys asking me why I hadn't met them? I finally clicked on it and labeled it as c) irrelevant ad and they stopped. Worked like a charm.

 

Currently I'm inundated with Summer Dresses catalogs in the mailbox. That's what I get for buying on-line this Spring.

 

 

[Mike]

. . . the ads consisted of incredibly good looking grey haired guys asking me why I hadn't met them?

 

You, too?

[Quinn]

If I turn on the TV while eating lunch, Robert Vaughn, Ken Insley, et. al come into my house to help me with my workman's comp lawsuit; the Fonze and Robert Wagner offer guidence with my reverse mortgage; some woman tells me I don't have to re-use cathaters; and young, helpful guys want to get me a scooter that I won't have to pay for so I can see the Grand Canyon. Guess I've entered a new demographic of news watchers just by being home during the day.

 

-----

 

 

[Kathy R]

. . . the ads consisted of incredibly good looking grey haired guys asking me why I hadn't met them?

 

You, too?

 

Be sure to let us know if you get the Summer Dresses catalogs

[Whip]

I think we should search for fun things so we can enjoy the ads more.

 

Motorcycles

 

Colorado Cabins

 

Dogs

 

Scotch

 

Beer

 

etc....

 

 

 

[1MPH]

Is it possible I'm Gay?

I think I'm pretty straight, but now I'm confused.

 

 

Kiss me and I'll tell you.

[markgoodrich]

Despite the "aw, not that there's anything wrong with it," wink wink commentary, and Fernando's use of upper case letters, I for one find this thread, all of it, to be completely offensive. The conceit of "we're talking about marketing" doesn't wash with me.

 

Locking this thread ain't enough, it should be deleted. I'm appalled that several of the admin people saw fit to comment. I'm appalled that the thread even got started. I'm appalled at MANY of the comments.

[markgoodrich]

. . . the ads consisted of incredibly good looking grey haired guys asking me why I hadn't met them?

 

You, too?

 

Be sure to let us know if you get the Summer Dresses catalogs

 

BOTH these comments are exactly what my previous post referred to. Appalling behavior, absolutely appalling.

[Whip]

Lighten up Francis

 

 

[CoarsegoldKid]

I'm not appalled as Mark is about this thread but I couldn't help but wonder why it even got started in the first place. Same goes for a lot of what I read here my friends.

[upflying]

IBTL

[Matts_12GS]

Lighten up Francis

 

 

 

+1

[beemerman2k]

Speaking for myself, as a member of a minority group in America (and I speak as myself, not as a moderator of this board -- if that's at all possible :smirk:), I try to use threads that exhibit what I might consider to be a lack of understanding as a teaching opportunity. In fact, just recently we engaged in a multi-page thread about the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in Florida. Read that thread and you'll see plenty of clashes attributed to a gap in understanding between the cultures. I had to navigate my way through some vicious opposition in that thread, but that's OK. I think we're all better for the experience.

 

Therefore, I would encourage those who feel there is a similar lack of cultural understanding being exhibited in this thread, that you sieze the occasion and use this as a teaching opportunity. What is it about certain posts that are offensive? How is it offensive? What can we all learn from these exchanges? How can we bridge the cultural divide?

 

There's no guarantee that you'll find open and receptive ears, but for those minds that need convincing, consider it an opportunity to speak to the understanding as shared by a huge portion of the country. To the degree that we are interested in open and supportive understanding, then lets initiate it with openess and supportive communication ourselves