With Yahoo’s purchase of Flickr, it didn’t take too long for Yahoo text ads to begin appearing next to Flickr member’s pictures. Unlike Google AdWords, Yahoo text ads, at least on Flickr, appear on personal Flickr pages whether or not the member wants them. Granted, Flickr provides the service for free which negates a non-paying Flickr member’s ability to completely control what appears on their photo pages but one Flickr user, tanais, doesn’t like the practice, commenting on an ad placement next to an image of, we assume, his dog, “I do not like my pictures being used to advertise a specific breeder (they may be excellent they may be terrible – that’s not the point)… so I shall sit down and think about how best to AdBust this.”
Commenting further on endorsement perceptions which might be created by ads next to Flickr user’s image, tanais writes, “I am also made aware of the responsibility one has when one blogs a photo: someone goes ‘Awww a Cute Puppy!’ Thats to be expected but a picture allied to an advert from a breeder I know nothing about makes me a tad worried. It could be a great breeder for all I know or it could be a puppy mill/farm.”
And on the inability to control which ads appear on a Flicker user’s page, “I find this lack of selective control worrying and I personally disagree with this “adtachment.” One could see this as a real issue or one could simply lump it together with the common appearance of ads on individual user’s free email account pages such as Gmail, Hotmail or yahoo mail. Or even ads that appear on the free profile pages of MySpace or any other community-like site. Does tanais have a point here or should the member just be happy the ads keep the service free?
UPDATE: Commenters claim this has been going on for years. Either they’ve never appeared on our pages or we’ve become really good at tuning ads out.
