[sofixa]

Anecdote here: Old school targeted ads helped me discover something i didn't know i wanted. I was watching a game of football ( soccer for americans), and during the halftime break there were ads I wasn't really paying attention to, and per tradition, they were oriented towards males. There was an add for a decent looking multi-purpose electric razer that came with all sorts of attachments for different body parts, including head. I bought it and use it frequently, including for cutting my hair ( which has saved me hundreds of euros compared to going to a hairdresser) and beard.

So, sometimes a targeted ad can be useful. A contextually targeted ad can be useful too ( e.g. cooking utensils / supplies on a a recipe site).

[anhner]

Sorry, those are not example of targeted ads.

A targeted ad is one that knows more about you than your age range, gender and what you are currently looking at (sports event, cooking site etc.).

A targeted ad knows that you usually buy tickets to a certain sports team, or you prefer baking cookies rather than cakes, and that you prefer the "Mestle" brand of flour etc.

[namlem]

That's a traditional untargeted ad though. Literally just a TV commercial.

[orwin]

And this is a "good" ad. When I'm on a hiking website, I'm interested in ads for tents and hiking utilities. When I'm on a tab website, i might be interested in a guitar selling ad. Those are good ads, I'm never mad when I see those