When I log on Facebook, I am often offered cash for reporting on my “prep school,” tempted with a discount for a “law school prep” company, offered a “paid investment internship,” or challenged to an “online IQ test.”
Sometimes the ads directly pertain to Yale (e.g., ads for the Yale Rep plays), so I assume the ones above are a product of Facebook’s targeting advertising.
I used to joke sarcastically about the stereotype that the advertisers have about the Ivory Tower. Clearly, to them a typical Yalie is a prep school grad who goes to prep school, gets an i-banking internship, and heads straight to law school, where s/he hangs her IQ certificate on the wall of their dorm.
But as I logged on tonight, there was a somewhat different ad:
"Obama Grants" Ads
I ignored it at first, but it resurfaced in this reincarnated form:
"Obama Grants" Ad 2
To be honest, when I saw these ads, I thought that it was some sort of practical joke on the oh-so-smart Ivy-Leaguers. You know, of a kind that would have a huge pop-up window saying “How stupid are you to have fallen for this” when you click on an ad. But the ads link to website where a proud-Texas-firefighter-turned-financial-guru offers you to “get free $12,000 from the government in 30 days.”
Screenshot from the website
The government clearly owes me a bunch of easily accessible cash. Oh wait, I am not a US citizen, and my government clearly does not think it owes me anything. Although I do have a feeling that if I pay $2.99 that Kevin is asking for the “free grant kit,” I might find out that the US government owes me money, too.
So Kevin Hoeffer, a trustworthy-looking fella, claims to have gotten rid of his debt and starting living a nice life (presumably consisting of visits to steak houses in NYC) after getting “free cash” from the government.
I have to admit I don’t know how to react to all this scam. If Facebook does use targeting advertising (and if it does not screen its ads), should I be offended for being considered so stupid?
Maybe I should go take one of those you-are-at-Harvard-but-are-you-a-genius IQ tests.
What is the difference between the results from lesser low traffic search engines and the big ones like Google, Yahoo and MSN?