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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?

#461

Post by quesera »

icoder wrote: post #406
tyoma wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strategy is extremely effective, especially for high-priced but rarely purchased items like dishwashers, cars, flooring, etc. Consider: one of the hardest parts about advertising is figuring out when someone is ready to buy the product. That is why car companies bombard ads everywhere, just to catch you in the rare moment when you may be buying a car. Lets guess that maybe the odds of a random person wanting to b…

I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense to me at all. Is that based on anything more than intuition because if not I'd like to say that mine sides with op. I'll add some numbers too. If a dishwasher has a lifetime of 20 years and a person is 'sensitive' to adds for dishwashers for a month surrounding the time it breaks, you're talking about a 1 in 240 chance if you 'randomly' target people with a dishwasher, which shou…

The reasonable explanation I've read elsewhere is:

Something like 30% of purchased products (including appliances) are DOA or returned.

The follow-on advertising is hoping to capture your replacement activity.

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

#463

Post by 29083011397778 »

ancarda wrote: post #86
ecopoesis wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because credit card rewards aren’t free? Banks compete for credit card consumers by offering rewards. Those rewards cost them money. Selling consumer information is another revenue stream to make up for the cost of rewards. Most consumers are okay with this trade off: they get their airline miles / low interest / cash back in exchange for their purchase history.

>Because credit card rewards aren’t free So this isn't covered by the 1-3% transaction fee the merchant pays every time you use your card? >Most consumers are okay with this trade off No they aren't. Most consumers aren't even aware they are paying with their privacy, so you cannot take a low opt-out rate to mean high levels of consent.

Speaking with coworkers that aren't tech workers - nobody gives a damn. Not one, not even something resembling one. To them, they are getting paid for something they otherwise have no use for. They're aware everything is tracked about them, and they do not give a fuck.

Your friends, family, and coworkers might though, so the critical mass of people not okay with this can still grow :)

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

#464

Post by worik »

sofixa wrote: post #431
worik wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm.... Use cash!

That doesn't help if you use a loyalty card, which a lot of people do for the promos. And even if you pay via card/phone ( which is literally multiple times faster and less hassle), the payment processor and card issuer don't know the individual items.

Don't use a loyalty card. Duh!

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

#465

Post by worik »

reaperducer wrote: post #421
worik wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm.... Use cash!

Use cash! It's a start. But unfortunately, doesn't get you out of a lot of the other surveillance methods. Also, paying cash is yet another bit of entropy. Like using Firefox.

"Also, paying cash is yet another bit of entropy. Like using Firefox. "

I do not understand. I am typing this on Firefox. Felling the low entropy vibe!

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

#466

Post by DubiousPusher »

mrweasel wrote: post #70
DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It seems like one of those things that are simply to hard to keep secret. Implementation would require way to many people to keep it secret. I’m also not sure if it make finacial sense to implement, given the large number of more easily metrics available.

> It seems like one of those things that are simply to hard to keep secret.

I used to believe that too. You might call it the unwieldy conspiracy principle. But I'm not as certain of it anymore. Things like the Snowden revelations might seem evidence for the principle but I kind of see it the opposite. For years, thousands even tens of thousands of people knew about that and they still kept it secret. It's entirely possible it could've gone on for years more without a particularly conscientious person happening to be let in on it.

The same goes for the Pentagon papers. And COINTELPRO was only uncovered due to people actively breaking into an office and stealing records.

Who's to say if stories like those are inevitable conclusions that befell all the major conspiracies worth writing about in our recent history or if they are just some portion of ones uncovered. Similar maleficence has persisted in the private sector too.

I'm not saying for sure they are listening in but at the same time, I'm not sure I buy unwieldiness as a surefire principle demonstrating it is not happening either.

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

#467

Post by MikeUt »

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…

> disable GPS

Is there no way to get GPS location, without sending it to Google? As I understand, GPS positioning does not require the phone to send any data?

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

#468

Post by muzani »

vbsteven wrote: post #308
continuations wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does Google link the real life person who bought Voltaren at a store to the online account or fingerprint that browses the Internet?

I don’t think Google linked the account directly to the purchase. My guess would be that Google linked the account to the medication based on patterns from one of its many ways it gathers data. * visits to websites about that medication * visits to websites talking about symptoms for which the medication helps * searches for the above * I would not be surprised if Google picks up interests from other accounts using t…

I do most searches in an incognito window so it can't be browser history.

In some cases, it's even something like my wife joking about selling the car to a friend on WhatsApp, and suddenly Facebook show ads where you can sell the car. One time I told my wife to buy something at the grocery store (verbally, no text) and FB shows me the ad for that exact item.

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

#470

Post by Gustomaximus »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #185
washadjeffmad wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many purchases are recurring consumables. Food, clothing, medicine, office supplies, car parts- none of it lasts forever. What does it cost to be reminded that you can buy more? Also, completely unrelatedly, if you saw some armchair internet rando claim they'd debunked a major and long-standing business strategy of market sector leader, how seriously would you take them?

I had a 2-4-1 offer on chainsaws sent to me. Business is subject to fads and stupidies, we have proof that open officez are a net negative, yet businesses continue. We have proof that getting people to change passwords every month is bad for security, but its still policy in many places. We have proof that using basalt or stainless rebar in RCC is more cost effective in the long run, but bs still continues.

I live on a farm and want multiple chainsaws. I've 3 currently and wouldn't mind a couple more.

For urban life multiple doesn't make sense. For professional/rural it really does.

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