Add your own caption...

[a_c_green]

Our local newspaper website subscribes to one of those two-bit advertising outfits that pastes random ads into the middle of news articles that you're trying to read, and in this case it was an ad for eBay, in a format that pairs two random listing images from random sellers (as far as I can determine) in the hopes that you'll click on one or the other of them.

I'm not going to clutter up the main page of the Selling group by adding a screenshot of the ad to this first post, so I'll add it in the first reply following here, and then we can try to guess what the ad software thought these two images had in common.

[a_c_green]

I'm thinking "big honkers"... 😁

[ebooksdiva]

Well ok then lmao 🤣 

[ten_o_nine]

I'm thinking "big honkers"

---------------------------------------------------

Which ones, the left or right?

[richard1rst]

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@a_c_green wrote:

Our local newspaper website subscribes to one of those two-bit advertising outfits that pastes random ads into the middle of news articles that you're trying to read, and in this case it was an ad for eBay, in a format that pairs two random listing images from random sellers (as far as I can determine) in the hopes that you'll click on one or the other of them.

I'm not going to clutter up the main page of the Selling group by adding a screenshot of the ad to this first post, so I'll add it in the first reply following here, and then we can try to guess what the ad software thought these two images had in common.

---

Well aside from the obvious sophomoric humor at least it is an eBay ad - something we have all be pushing for.

[mcdougle4248]

@a_c_green 

🤣🤣🤣Thank you for sharing I needed a good laugh!

[toomuchstuffagain35]

First I need to know what the De Walt thing is. An Air horn?

[ten_o_nine]

@richard1rst 

An ad like this will not bring customers to me, so who cares about this little something?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

A DeWalt impact drill converted into a portable train horn 

Photo of Katie Holmes (formerly Mrs Tom Cruise).

[richard1rst]

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

@richard1rst 

An ad like this will not bring customers to me, so who cares about this little something?

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@ten_o_nine 

Well if you hadn't been so distracted by the mammaries you would have noticed the eBay ad next to it - the ad you so conveniently edited out - because it didn't fit your rant?

Any exposure is better than none.

[a_c_green]

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@richard1rst wrote:
@ten_o_nine 

Well if you hadn't been so distracted by the mammaries you would have noticed the eBay ad next to it

---

Yeah, I was sort of wondering the same thing, whether the left-hand image was simply eye candy and only the right-hand image was an eBay listing, but the ad frame was randomly reloading both sides with a new image every 15-30 seconds or so, plus the caption on the right talks about "Items [plural] from global sellers," suggesting that you could click on either side and jump to the listing from which that image was taken (which I did not do). This pairing seemed to be what it would start with whenever the entire page (a local news item, in this case) was downloaded.

[chapeau-noir]

This is just TOO easy.

[moondogblues]

The image to the left is the kind of thing I get bombarded with when I try to shop for clothes here.  I have brought this subject up for years.  I finally have just gone to the store's Websites because I'm sick of it.  I also do not watch a lot of the music awards shows because of the semi-nudity.  I even now loathe the Olympics...I don't need to see little girl cheekies.  I am a female (and an ex-swimmer) and it appalls me that we have become panderers.  The male athletes are no better.  The suits look like they would come off once they hit the water.  Yuck.

[moondogblues]

"Any exposure is better than none."

Not if you turn off a lot of potential customers.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Agree with @richard1rst : the really interesting thing about this is : it is an ebay ad, and it is NOT tied to the focus categories---to me, that's very good news. 

Both items are actually for sale on ebay (celebrity photos, such as this one, seem to be quite popular items on ebay).

As the OP notes, the selection appears to vary, and so I'm guessing it is is determined by an algorithm that may take into account (among other things) a viewer's history or the site's demographics, etc.

As an ebay vintage seller, would I be a lot happier if the ad displayed a couple of vintage items? Sure. 

But evidently the ad is an attention getter as is. I'd be curious to know what other pairings ebay is displaying in that spot.