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Instant Messenger or Instant Advertiser?

Posted by timothy on from the insidious-synthetic-friends dept.

Shadow2097 writes: "ABC News is running this moderately disturbing story about a new, highly targeted form of advertising. Two companies, SmarterChild.com and ActiveBuddy.com have teamed up to deliver interactive Instant Messenger bots that talk to children and deliver ever-so-subtle ads for various products. Just when you think market saturation has reached the limit, leave it to a greedy corporation to start targeting the most naive and vulnerable demographic there is."

1 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. why is this a problem? by 2MuchC0ffeeMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    why is this a problem?

    it's not like the people who goto children websites have ads AIMED at children... hell, the slashdot banners are aimed at geeks (thinkgeek anyone?) ...

    why is this a problem, when it's a service, for free, which is OPT IN ONLY. yes, people have to talk to the bot first... it's not like they HAVE to click advertisements, they just get a message about it...

    like text will get them to buy cheeze it's anyway.

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