As Told Over Brunch

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My Personality Through Ad Choices

Do you ever get nervous about who you are as a person with the targeted ads you get? You know, because there are a lot of algorithms at work to serve you your ads. Take it from someone in marketing: they know a whole lot about you and are serving ads to people they think they would buy their product. So what does it mean when I'm getting so many ads pertaining to reproduction?

Here are three ads that really made me wonder what kind of person the internet believes I am.

1. Selling My Eggs

Pandora got stuck on an ad for me for awhile telling me to sell my eggs. Apparently, since I'm 24 and not reproducing, there's no reason for me to keep them to myself. Maybe I'm being selfish here....?

But really, this ad made me wonder: what really goes into egg donations? The short answer: you get a lot of money for it because it's really not a fun procedure. It's nothing like the sperm bank. Why do guys get it so easy?

2. Abortion

I've talked a bit about my thoughts on abortion before, so you may know that I'm all right with abortion, but really believe that people should take preventative measures. The question I pose here is along the lines: why can't we promote ads about birth control rather than sucking out a half-formed baby? Let's take a step back and prevent this from happening.

Also, why do they need to advertise for this? If I wanted an abortion, it's not like I decided that after hearing an ad about it. Also, they should probably only target this to people who are searching for options in the moment.

3. Condoms

I'm not talking about a normal condom commercial: I'm talking about one scolding people for having unprotected sex. The ad uses words such as "disgusting" and "gross." While I agree: let's wrap it up, people (please see my thoughts on preventative measures in #2), this ad was wildly aggressive AND first thing on Spotify on a Monday morning.

But seriously, what about me screams to advertisers that I'm 1.) a wench, 2.) unintentionally knocked up, and 3.) probably harboring STDs? Do I have to worry about my reputation with the way I'm portraying myself? Or are advertisers really assuming that all single 24-year-old girls are strapped for cash and ready to get rid of their withering eggs before they get accidentally knocked up?

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