Contextual Fuckery Delivers Life Insurance Courtesy of Dead Soldiers

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Yesterday, seven soldiers died in Iraq. Not that this is the sort of news Adrants reports but it’s nice to step outside our mostly meaningless business from time to time and digest something that actually has meaning and truly affects people in ways that make advertising comparably irrelevant. Oh, and if seven soldiers dying in Iraq weren’t bad enough, courtesy of contextual advertising’s unfailing fuckery, this CNN news story was accompanied by an ad for life insurance with the headline, “If you died today, who would fund your family’s future?” Well, for the families of the seven who died, it’s a bit late to buy life insurance but hey, there’s plenty of time for the rest of the military to bulk up on insurance. So I guess it’s a perfectly placed ad after all.

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Steve Hall

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