Slashdot Mirror
Amazon is Stuffing Its Search Results Pages With Ads (recode.net)
If it feels like Amazon's site is increasingly stuffed with ads, that's because it is. And it looks like that's working -- at least for brands that are willing to fork over ad dollars as part of their strategy to sell on Amazon. From a report: Amazon-sponsored product ads have been around since 2012. But lately, as the company has invested in growing its advertising business, they've become more aggressive. See, for example, our search below for "cereal." The first three results, which take up the whole screen above the fold -- everything visible before you scroll -- are sponsored placements that appear as search results: Ads for Kellogg's Special K, Quaker Life and Cap'n Crunch. (It's similarly dramatic on mobile, where it takes up the entire first screen.) This is followed by a section featuring Amazon's own brand, 365 Everyday Value, which was part of its Whole Foods acquisition. Not until scrolling down halfway on the next browser "page" do organic search results -- non-paid, non-Amazon brands -- come up: Post's Honey Bunches of Oats and Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats and Frosted Flakes.
This has been going quite a while now.
But it getting to the point where ublock is having troubles with the page.
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
I know better than to take it's suggestion to "next time, just ask Alexa to order x" since whatever I've searched for is frequently topped by some cheap knockoff that's "sponsored". Does anyone who actually uses alexa to order stuff get that or what?
Landfall isn't until Thursday. As long as you ship overnight, you should be fine. I'm ordering plywood for my windows and a couple of board games. Shame on people who didn't prepare for the hurricane by signing up for Prime.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
I've found the quality/ranking of amazon results to be TERRIBLE. I always do a google search when I want to find products on amazon.
"We" don't all live in the Carolinas, "We" don't all have skin in the game, "We" aren't all affected by it, and "We" don't all give a damn.
It may surprise you to learn this, but the world doesn't stop because there's a storm somewhere.
I've been to the Carolinas, nice place, nice people ... but my life is in no way impacted by this, and I'd rather every news source not be overtaken with breathless drama about things which don't impact me.
Did you run around shrieking like this when Japan was getting hit with a typhoon last week?
I tried to buy plywood and supplies on Amazon but I couldnt find any because of all the damn ads!
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
The term for that is price gouging when it happens around the time of a natural disaster.
It is only called "gouging" by people that don't understand markets. The likely storm track has been known for days. So why didn't the suppliers run extra overtime shifts to bring in more supplies? Answer: Because they knew they would not be allowed to recoup the extra costs, since NC has price control laws.
So anti-market laws were the reason for the shortage. "Price gouging" is the solution. Sure, prices would be higher, but not by as much as you think, since extra supplies would limit the rise. But there would have been far fewer shortages.
uBlock Origin hides the sponsored listings for me, and now that I've told it, will hide the Amazon brands too.
When you go into the store, you see a lot of items on endcaps of the aisles. They are highly visible. You see items on shelves at eye level and other items that are shelved high up or at the floor.
Why do you think some items are on endcaps, and some are shelved at eye-level as opposed to floor-level? That's right. Companies PAY to have their products placed at more desirable locations.
As you were saying, ads, ads, ads, ads, ads.
And then FEMA comes in and blunders around doing random shit trying to look like they're helping while trying to make sure they get as much press coverage as possible.
FEMA is not there to manage the entire recovery process. FEMAs job is to obtain resources (food/water, rescue workers, repair crews, etc), and get those resources to those who need them the most. It is the the job of the local government to know the community and let FEMA know what and where these resources are needed. The governor didn't even know how to contact each mayor, what hospital were open, where shelters were, or even what the heck he was doing; and it showed!
Go back and review the news, the people trying to get news coverage wasn't FEMA, it was the San Juan mayor who cried a swan song all the while in front of one of the few buildings with power/water/food. FEMA had supplies on the docks within a few days, the local government couldn't find trucks or drivers to deliver the goods; not until local truck drivers pounded down the governors door begging for routes. FEMA had rescue workers within hours of the storm passing, the local government didn't even know where to look and where to take people who needed aid. FEMA just finally found 6 trailers they gave to the government full of supplies, still loaded on the private property of a friend of a local official.
You want to know why PR is still in need, look at the government officials that were/are just looking after friends and neighbors instead of the entire community they represent. And yes, this is still going on which is why its still an issue.
You forgot non-GMO. But I can't figure out how "vegetarian" can possibly be combined with "free-range, cruelty free".
Listen up brothers and sisters, come hear my desperate tale.
I speak of our friends of nature trapped in the dirt like a jail.
Vegetables live in oppression, served on our tables each night.
This killing of veggies is madness—I say we take up the fight!
Salads are only for murderers; coleslaw's a facist regime.
Don't think that they don't have feelings, just cause a radish can't scream.
I've heard the screams of the vegetables (scream, scream, scream),
watching their skins being peeled (having their insides revealed),
grated and steamed with no mercy (burning off calories),
how do you think that feels? (Bet it hurts really bad.)
Carrot juice constitutes murder. (And that's a real crime.)
Greenhouses prisons for slaves. (Let my vegetables go!)
It's time to stop all this gardening. (It's dirty as hell.)
Let's call a spade a spade (is a spade is a spade is a spade).
—Arrogant Worms