Multiple readers have expressed concern (or at least they have expressed feelings) about the content of the ads on Big Fat Deal, which Google generates automatically. They are sometimes ads for plus-size clothing and dating sites; sometimes ads for diet products and fad diet drugs. Rachel summed it up when she said:

I just think the advertising on the site is somewhat contradictory to the blog’s great, empowering posts on how women should accept themselves at whatever their size.

And Rachel has a good point–they are the reason I code named a certain diet substance “Kelly Clarkson,” after all. And I even looked into blocking the ads by keyword (which Google does not allow you to do). But they don’t really bother me all that much, the more I think about it, and here’s why:

• We really don’t have anything against weight loss. A lot of our readers are in the process of losing weight, or have lost weight. Ads for Jenny Craig or what have you don’t really bother me. If you want to lose weight in a reasonable, healthy manner, I support that. I myself have done the South Beach diet and am on Weight Watchers right now. Whatever size you choose to be, whatever you need to be happy and healthy, you go for it. Just don’t hate yourself, don’t hate your fat, don’t hate people for choosing to be fatter than you deem acceptable. That’s the message here, I think.

• The readers of this site are intelligent, discerning people. I don’t think any of us is going to be taken in by an ad for “Kelly Clarkson” or whatever the newest weirdo diet drug is. I hope we have strong enough self-esteem and critical thinking skills that we won’t believe what the ads want us to believe about our own inadequacy. (I’d love to hear from some guys on this—do those ubiquitous ads for penis-enhancing drugs make men feel inadequate? I wonder.) Anyway, I hope people can filter out the ads that they don’t care about.

• Wil Wheaton actually addressed this a few days ago himself, when his readers objected to a giant ad for a Bill O’Reilly book:

  For the record, I think Bill O’Reilly is the biggest douchebag in the universe this side of Dick Cheney and King George, but if his people want to waste their time and money advertising to a group of people who are too smart to buy into his bullshit, I’m happy to take it, and give it to the ACLU, or Media Matters, or some other organization that you could call a Bill O’Reilly offset.

  Are we stealing from the rich and giving to the poor? Maybe not, but Big Fat Deal does allow us to share a message with the world that is, I think, a good one. So maybe it evens out somehow. As I wrote to the commenter above, maybe we can see ads for fad diet products as ironically entertaining!

I have an account on BlogAds for Big Fat Deal, so maybe eventually I will be in a position to accept and reject ads, and I’ll have to reevaluate my opinions if Bill O’Reilly comes knocking on my door. But I hope you understand the rationale for keeping the Google ads the way they are, even if they are annoying. I tried to make them blend in with the background and they’re certainly not plastered everywhere. But they paid for the site redesign, and they pay my hosting costs, and hopefully that’s okay with you guys.

While I’m on the subject, you can support Big Fat Deal in lots of different ways, one of which is clicking on the ads. Some other things you can do, if you like the site:

• Bookmark us, visit regularly, and read our entries!
• Join the community: comment on our entries, or leave a comment in the introduce yourself topic. Argue, discuss, commisserate, and disagree. I love it all.
• Put a link to Big Fat Deal on your site somewhere, or favorite us on Technorati.
• Go to the introduce yourself topic and visit the blogs of your fellow commenters. They are awesome people.
• Click on all those Digg thingies at the bottom of the posts. Those are good, right?

If you can think of anything else to add to the list, let me know. And I really appreciate all your support to date. Feel free to share your thoughts on this below.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Advertising, Meta