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Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

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Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#111

Post by corobo »

mulmen wrote: post #90
pksadiq wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is this even a thing? Maybe I should just go back to buying everything with cash, it's impossible to keep up with all the crap we need to disable or hack around And some agencies may be more interested in these exclusion databases. So I don't think there is any way to get out of this maze. When you sign up to exclude from a list, you get included in many other.

What’s the risk here? Am I branded as a terrorist for opting out of marketing? What’s the logic?

Lists can be used for things other than terrorists

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#112

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

baybal2 wrote: post #29

Opt out of VISA marketing https://marketingreportoptout.visa.com/OPTOUT/request.do Second, disable GPS, and cellphone tower ID reporting (root needed.) So Google can't correlate you with sales records. At the moment, there is no way to disable Google AGPS spying on the stock Android. Third, block Google apps from reading your IMEI/IMSI/serial number, so they can't get AGPS data from your cellphone provider if it sell…

Even better: flush your smartphone down the toilet.

I mean, if you have to try and double-guess your phone to make sure it's not spying on you the game is lost. I don't even know what game that is. But it's lost.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#113

Post by 55555 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #107
baybal2 wrote: post #29

Opt out of VISA marketing https://marketingreportoptout.visa.com/OPTOUT/request.do Second, disable GPS, and cellphone tower ID reporting (root needed.) So Google can't correlate you with sales records. At the moment, there is no way to disable Google AGPS spying on the stock Android. Third, block Google apps from reading your IMEI/IMSI/serial number, so they can't get AGPS data from your cellphone provider if it sell…

This is the dumbest ad strategy ever. Why on earth would ads about a product you just bought be effective marketing material. This is like how you get a million ads about dishwashers the day after you Google around and buy one. At least wait for a short duration of time to let the target run out of medicine before adversiting new stuff.

I used to think this, but people who just bought a dishwasher are probably somewhat likely to buy another dishwasher, even the same dishwasher, and there only needs to be a tiny fraction of a single percentage chance for it to be worth showing an ad impression.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#114

Post by 55555 »

jwmoz wrote: post #109
jeroenhd wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the dumbest ad strategy ever. Why on earth would ads about a product you just bought be effective marketing material. This is like how you get a million ads about dishwashers the day after you Google around and buy one. At least wait for a short duration of time to let the target run out of medicine before adversiting new stuff.

I still get ads about leather wallets from when I was searching for one like 10 years ago.

Same, but I think it's also just that Bellroy is just a massive Display advertiser.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#115

Post by briandear »

baybal2 wrote: post #29

Opt out of VISA marketing https://marketingreportoptout.visa.com/OPTOUT/request.do Second, disable GPS, and cellphone tower ID reporting (root needed.) So Google can't correlate you with sales records. At the moment, there is no way to disable Google AGPS spying on the stock Android. Third, block Google apps from reading your IMEI/IMSI/serial number, so they can't get AGPS data from your cellphone provider if it sell…

Or better yet, use an iPhone. Then you can use your GPS.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#116

Post by 55555 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #66
murukesh_s wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also google may read your email (if you are using gmail) - which contains your bank receipt (so seller), time and amount.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en > We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads.

That's great and all, but they literally used to.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#117

Post by ancarda »

zikzak wrote: post #104
ancarda wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>VISA marketing Why is this even a thing? Maybe I should just go back to buying everything with cash, it's impossible to keep up with all the crap we need to disable or hack around

A person I work with (very knowledgable about tech and IT) uses a flip phone and cash (as much as possible). If they want to send a gift they buy it locally, pack it up, and ship it. Etc. They don't even bank online. Why? Not sure but they have lots of free time and this is how they choose to spend it (trips to see a teller, back machines, part office visits, using public transport to shop for nearly everything).

>Why? Not sure

Maybe they are sick of surveillance capitalism and don't wish to be part of it?

I'd do the same, but I really don't want a flip phone. Maybe once Pine Phone with GNU/Linux is working reasonably well, I'll switch to that.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#118

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

jeroenhd wrote: post #107
baybal2 wrote: post #29

Opt out of VISA marketing https://marketingreportoptout.visa.com/OPTOUT/request.do Second, disable GPS, and cellphone tower ID reporting (root needed.) So Google can't correlate you with sales records. At the moment, there is no way to disable Google AGPS spying on the stock Android. Third, block Google apps from reading your IMEI/IMSI/serial number, so they can't get AGPS data from your cellphone provider if it sell…

This is the dumbest ad strategy ever. Why on earth would ads about a product you just bought be effective marketing material. This is like how you get a million ads about dishwashers the day after you Google around and buy one. At least wait for a short duration of time to let the target run out of medicine before adversiting new stuff.

I don't think they try to sell you what you've alrady bought, I think they're trying to sell you what you have shown any kind of interest in. Perhaps you filled in the order and then backed out- how would Google's recommender system know that? I mean, they sure can but not for everyone, probably (hopefully). So the moment you show any kind of interest in some kind of product, they bombard you with ads for that same kind of product, hoping that they will get you in the short window of time right before you've made a purchase.

... or not. Maybe their recommender systems have simply decided that buying product X is highly correlated with buying product Y where Y = X. Who knows? Probably not even google itself knows.

Also, remember that google is not trying to sell you anything, they're only trying to maximise adoption of their ad platform by advertisers. Who cares what you actually buy? Not Google.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#119

Post by bombcar »

cactus2093 wrote: post #96
dorkwood wrote: post #63

I suspect all the people putting this claim on the same level as "my phone is listening to me" conspiracy theories are living outside of the USA. One of the first things I noticed after moving to America was that I was being served ads for oddly specific in-store purchases. I checked my bank's terms and discovered that, sure enough, they were sharing my transaction history with "non-affiliates" so that they could mar…

Well the other problem in America is the payment rails are very primitive. How does your credit card company know which items you’re buying, when the payment description will be something cryptic that you can only sometimes even match to the store name and that’s it. It’s not like your credit card company gets an itemized receipt of your purchases. I’ve actually worked at a company that was purchasing this data from…

At least some credit card companies support (in some cases) getting an itemized receipt - I know I've been in my AMEX account and been able to see the full details of a purchase.

It needs the credit card company, the payment processor, and the merchant to all have compatible systems that support it. I know I've seen it advertised as a feature of some business cards.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#120

Post by im3w1l »

reader_mode wrote: post #35
StavrosK wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been a few times now where I've talked with my wife about some new product (physically, in the room) and she starts seeing ads about it. I thought that was the explanation too, but it's happened too many times for comfort. I know my devices are (probably) not listening, but I can't explain it either. Neither of us searched for the product or saw it online or anything, we just discussed something and got ads abou…

> It's been a few times now where I've talked with my wife about some new product (physically, in the room) and she starts seeing ads about it. I thought that was the explanation too, but it's happened too many times for comfort. The wierdest instance of this is I told my wife her father should consider geting those fixed bridge dentures, next day I start seeing all-on-4 ads on the phone. I asked her if she looked it…

There are many sources of errors that people have described in other comments. The proper way to deal with this is a blinded experiment.

Preparation:

1. Get two identical phones, one that you use, and one that has a dead battery.

2. Fix a set of product-categories.

Experiment:

Every week,

1. Label the phones A and B. Use a coinflip to decide whether the working one is A or B. Record which it was.

2. Hand the phone to someone else. They exchange the labels for 1 and 2. If heads A=1, if tails A=2, and record the coinflip.

3. Get the phone labelled 1 back. Neither of you know whether it is working or not.

4. Randomly pick a topic from the pre-fixed list and talk about the topic near the phone.

5. Let the other person remove the labels.

6. Pick out the working phone and go about your day.

7. Write down whether you see ads relating to the topic, yes or no.

Analysis:

Join the records, to see which weeks you used a working phone, and if those corresponded to seeing ads.

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