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How the New York Times keeps tragedies ad-free

parkerhiggins.net

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Re: How the New York Times keeps tragedies ad-free

#4
> it’s almost an acknowledgement that ads are invasive and uncomfortable. They cross over into the intolerable range when we’re emotionally vulnerable from a tragic story.

Is it really this, or is it that advertisers don't want their brand associated with negativity in general?

How they're doing it is interesting, but I think the analysis is weird.

Re: How the New York Times keeps tragedies ad-free

#8
post #7

A new avenue for ethical cross-site scripting. I did not know about this particular keyword sensitivity google mail: http://boingboing.net/2009/07/31/how-to-avoid-ads-in.html Maybe everybody should add "I'm sorry for your loss of ads" to their email signature?

Apparently doesn't work if the words are just in your signature.

Re: How the New York Times keeps tragedies ad-free

#9

> it’s almost an acknowledgement that ads are invasive and uncomfortable. They cross over into the intolerable range when we’re emotionally vulnerable from a tragic story. Is it really this, or is it that advertisers don't want their brand associated with negativity in general? How they're doing it is interesting, but I think the analysis is weird.

How may articles are actually positive in a newspaper?

IMO advertisers understand that contents making people angry (like politics, mostly) or sad will drive most of the page views, and are OK with some level of negativity. Tragedies directly affecting their potential customers is just a bridge too far.

For comparison, discussion on afghanistan and air strikes is OK: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/world/asia/ashraf-ghani-of...

Re: How the New York Times keeps tragedies ad-free

#10

> it’s almost an acknowledgement that ads are invasive and uncomfortable. They cross over into the intolerable range when we’re emotionally vulnerable from a tragic story. Is it really this, or is it that advertisers don't want their brand associated with negativity in general? How they're doing it is interesting, but I think the analysis is weird.

Seconded. There is no fact to support this analysis other than the author's personal opinion — though I may still agree with him, he should provide data to support his affirmation.
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