Tees the Season: Fore Contextual Ads & Personalization

She loves golf and the color pink. There's an ornament for that.     From: PersonalizationMall.com

For the past couple of days I've been followed relentlessly... by a tiny lady in a golf cart.  She wears pink from head to toe and carries her clubs in a pink bag.

As I navigate the net, she appears everywhere; lurking in my sidebar with a perpetually miniacal radiant smile.  And just when I feel like I've finally lost her... there she is again.  If she wasn't so cute, the word stalker might even come to mind.

This Golf Chick© Personalized Ornament is a perfect example of of the amazing... and slightly disconcerting... power of internet advertising in the era of social context. And, chances are, if you haven't yet found your own version of this smiling rose colored divot diva, you will.  Even if you don't use social networks like facebook and twitter. You probably use search engines, everyone (except my father) does, and in doing so you're providing rich fodder for some well-targeted, very persistent, advertising.

My husband who shuns the social sites and looks down upon online oversharing, has been pursued by a mysterious silver plated cigar cutter for the past couple of weeks, and the secretive cigar aficionado doesn't seem to mind one bit, in fact I think he even ordered one... for self-gifting purposes.

I'll probably order a couple of the little golf cart ladies too.  Not for myself (my holiday decorating style is understated and traditional) but for a couple of the gals I play golf with during the summer.  It's cute and inexpensive... and the personalization makes it special.  And the best part is I didn't have to go looking for it - she it found me. Thanks to contextual advertising.