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Thursday 4 June 2009

Voice of Google AKA Youtube Free Europe

How happy should I be that I happened to opt for a lazy lunchtime session of Youtube browsing? I do believe I have come across quite the nugget, even if it has managed to piss me right off.


This just appeared on all my Youtube tabs.

The highlighted bit reads: "Watch President Obama's address live from Cairo, Egypt on the following Youtube channel: (youtube.com/whitehouse) at 6:10 (Eastern US time)."

This isn't even an ad. Since when did ads appear at the top of your browser window like that? Whichever way you paint it, the only term that accurately describes this is 'propaganda'.

What I want to know is, does the White House pay Google a premium for this crap? And how is it that I am a target audience? Because I happen to be in the Middle East at the moment and browsing from a Middle Eastern IP number? Just like that?

Voice of America and Radio Free Europe were more tactful than this. At least you got to choose whether or not you turned the radio on!


Anyone out there able to chase some leads on this?

1 comment:

Mustanir said...

I don't believe it is a targeted ad as I have the same thing on my Youtube here in the UK, except in English of course.
It appears to be a Youtube-wide thing, which still begs the question of how much Google are being paid (if at all) for this....