This is just wrong:

[melissajm]

Ad underneath an online article about the WWE drug scandal:

"Build Muscle Fast
You can build freaky big, cartoon like muscles with Growth Factor-1."

Comments

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

That's Twilight-Zone-weird. I wonder who did the layout and what they were smoking at the time.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Well, I recently got, "Looking for thyroid problems? Shop online at..."

Given the phrase "cartoon-like" I'd say this is an actual hack, and not layout or search engine weirdness at all.

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

Looking for thyroid problems? Shop online at

Yes, that's funny. I can't think of anyone who would be looking for thyroid problems. I wonder if that ad worked at all.

Given the phrase "cartoon-like"

Yeah, that is pretty funny. That can be bad too. It seems to many that in many cases (Bugs Bunny in particular) cartoon characters flex and have their muscle and bone sag instead of swell.

Still, you'd think someone would have noticed the poor taste of putting an ad for muscle building drugs below a story of that nature. But I once saw a grocery store ad below an article about a big chain grocery that was regrinding meat past it's disposal date. I've often wondered if that magazine was sued. They kept it very quiet if they were.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Often, they don't even know about it; the people who decide where the ads are going to go don't know where the articles are going to be. The exception, of course, would be themed issues.

But in this case, I think the ad's a joke, put in by a hacker. It just sounds too much like something from Acme ;-).

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

I saw this in an actual medical report: "Patient was told to have a herniated disc."

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

Having worked for both radio and a newspaper, I can tell you that traffic (radio add schedulers) and paste-up people (they still call them that though it's rarely done with wax anymore) are supposed to watch placement for conflict. The exception is, of course, a newspaper ad page devoted to car dealers/sales and the like. Otherwise there has to be at least one different subject ad in between in a radio break, and in paper, no two similar ads touching. At KFLG in Bullhead City, we desperately tried not to put two car dealers in one commercial break, though sometimes it was necessary as we were almost always oversold, especially during the dayshift which was usually when I was hosting. One time when working for "The Bounty" I remember getting screamed at because, while we had looked it over for errors, we had failed to notice a placement of a Coast-To-Coast ad next to a Sheridan Commercial ad (both hardware stores). Most people don't know the subtletys of either business though. Somehow I became so well trained to it that I still notice that stuff, even though I know longer work in either field. Go figure.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Wow. I never knew it was that complex!

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I think the ad was placed by a hacker.

Anyway, internet ads are usually place by programs, not by individuals, which makes it much easier to put something in that doesn't belong there. To me, the phrase "cartoon like muscles" means it's not a real ad.

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

oops, meant subtleties, of course. I've been changing directions awkardly all day