Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 494 posts

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

#31

Post by loloquwowndueo »

techrat wrote: post #25
duncanfwalker wrote: post #12

I think that usually these things are actually just a symptom of the fact we see hundreds of ads every day. Most of the time you don't consciously notice them but then, when they trigger some recognition, you do and it feels like a big coincidence - which I find almost as disturbing as the idea that they were somehow watching. The eerie feeling compounded by the fact that we are sometimes correctly targeted and there…

Also known as the frequency illusion. Like when you learn about a word for first time and then suddenly it seems like it's popping up everywhere.

Or when you start looking into buying a particular car model and suddenly it’s the most popular car and you see it everywhere :)

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

#33

Post by friehe »

znpy wrote: post #7

> I guess it could just be coincidence? Could it be? of the billions of items you could be advertised for, why then exactly Voltaren? Do you have an android phone, by chance?

I get Voltaren ads all the time on YouTube. I don't use it or any similar products. Maybe they just have a large advertising budget.

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

#35

Post by reader_mode »

StavrosK wrote: post #19
halotrope wrote: post #9

It might be that you are just noticing the ads now that you bought the product. I read about similar observations recently. Might be a cousin of frequency illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion?wprov=sfti1

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 up (to rule out IP tracking) and she said she hasn't. It's a very random thing to advertise to me, I'm not the target group, I didn't look it up.

A lot of it is IP tracking - I'll start browsing for guitars or some other random stuff my wife has no interest in - she'll start seeing ads for it.

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

#36

Post by loloquwowndueo »

wideareanetwork wrote: post #3
arkitaip wrote: post #2

Have you been googling about your symptoms, illnesses or anything else that can have a connection to drugs like Voltaren?

No I’m almost certain I haven’t. Because I’ve used it before and I don’t really have any questions about it so I ran out and I just go buy more. At this stage I’m just assuming it’s a coincidence. It has made me realize the holy grail for google and advertisers is to access your bank transactions and advertise to you based on that.

Indeed though I find it silly when I buy something like a laptop (I’m probably good for a couple of years) and start getting bombarded by “hey laptops galore!”ads. I just bought one, don’t need another !

It would be cleverer to identify the replacement cycle for each kind of product and only promote stuff the victim is likely to be looking for at that point in time (after 3 years likeliness of looking for a laptop replacement is higher).

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

#37

Post by StavrosK »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28
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…

> I know my devices are (probably) not listening, but I can't explain it either. How do you know?

Network traffic and battery usage monitoring.

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

#38

Post by StavrosK »

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…

Yeah but neither of us had searched for that or anything, and I use DDG and uBO so it's not likely it'd be tracked.

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

#39

Post by sneak »

vinni2 wrote: post #24
thinkingemote wrote: post #16

Don't you use an adblocker? I could be being targeted with all sorts of stuff but I'd never know.

Adblocker stops you from seeing the ad but not from google deanonymizing and linking your transactions to your search. Also lots of websites these days require you to disable adblockers to function.

I don't use those websites.

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

#40

Post by machello13 »

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…

Use an iPhone?
Post reply on HN