Do Facebook Have No Shame?

It's a rhetorical question because we all know they don't.

Facebook run ads, but they don't care how dubious. With all the frenetic activity of late regarding those Facebook "Quizzes" ('Top 5 Bands to Play The Powerstation', 'What Type of Penguin Are You?', etc etc) you may have been tempted to click on "Want a Girlfriend? Find out if you can be a good
boyfriend!"

Okay, maybe you weren't that stupid, but I was. I thought it was a quiz, but it wasn't. It was a link to a Russian dating site. A Russian dating site that sent my Mac into an apoplectic fit in it's haste to warn me that the site was the Dodgiest of Dodgy Sites and "could NOT be trusted!". I use a program called WOT so luckily I did not click onto the site proper, although the bevvy of attractive Russian brides waiting for me did look tempting.

You have to wonder how badly Facebook need the money that they accept this sort of advertising? Another ad they run is "Work-Out Technique ~ Do you want a 6-pack? There's a new way instead of doing repetitive sit-ups! Now you can get six-packs with a new proven method!". The ad features a photo of Edward Norton, lifted from the movie 'American History X'. Clearly they don't have the right to use that image, but Facebook don't care. They'll run the ad til either Edward Norton or NewLine Cinema tell them not to. But why anyone would run an ad with the image of a White Power Nazi, I don't know.

And if that isn't funny enough, there's always "You Smarter Than Rihanna? Take the IQ quiz and find out if you are smarter than this pop diva!" I guess the hook for that one (no pun intended) is that we all think we're
smarter than Rihanna now.

[And as a spooky aside:- one of my Facebook friends made the following comment on Facebook (after I'd written this blog, but before I'd published it)

BGE ~ I bet your ads on face book don't feature websites selling fake designer bags and competitions run by cigarette companies do they? (only in Indonesia...bless) ]