Deceptive Content Advertising Vexes Readers and Exposes Consumers to Scams

We have all done it, been reading a news story online, and saw another story that caught our eye. "Such-and-such Celebrity Finds Secret to Living," or another inflated headline, catches our eye. The first reaction, of course, is to click the link. What happens then can only be described as an uncontrolled avalanche of advertising, scams, half-baked claims, and at least a few messages of impropriety. Congratulations, you have fallen into the trap laid by companies such as Taboola and Outbrain, who rake in big bucks by getting you to click on what you think is an interesting story, only to be assaulted with a myriad of advertising content that is not very well vetted not to be scams, fake stories, or downright criminal enterprises. Why do they do this? Well, so-called content advertising reaches over 1.5 billion people every month. Yes, billion, as in about five times the population of the USA! Outbrain, based in Israel, rakes over $500 million annually. The vice president of strategy for Outbrain admits that for every 10,000 people, only one will click it. So why do publishers use these ads at all? Simply put, these ads provide about 1/3 of the revenue that a publisher will generate, and people have become so inundated with them that they tolerate the dishonesty and just say, "That's just part of the Internet!" When I was young, my dad would tell me if I hung out with the kids who were in trouble all the time, I'd also get in trouble. Is it a generalization? Well, yes, but the fact is, we humans tend to emulate those around us. As for our sites and print, we ensure every advertiser is a legitimate business, and our policy is to never blind link out of our websites. We currently only allow advertising on our online site from those advertisers in our print paper. Additionally, all advertisers are required to have a local address and phone number. Our whole office loves getting messages from readers who love that we don't go for the quick buck. Maybe it's time for others to follow in those footsteps and show that honesty can be productive and successful as well.