Facebook Ads Are Freaking Me Out, Man!

Everyone knows that exam time is Facebook time. You've just found the perfect spot in Van Pelt (where no one can see your laptop's screen) so what's the first thing you do? Open up Facebook and try to postpone your studying for as long as possible. I have to admit that I'm victim to these same urges.

I'm here to tell you that there may be something even more entertaining than perusing pictures tagged of you and checking the statuses of kids from your high school to see where they've gotten into college (shoutout, prefrosh!). I'm talking about the new ads on Facebook. Now, I know that Mark Zuckerberg has to rake in the cash somehow, but some of these are just ridiculous. In case you missed them, here's a roundup of a few of the most bizarre.  

First up is the gem above advertising... Carl Kasell. Remember him? Think back to before you could drive--NPR on the way to school in the back of your mom's (or friend's mom's) station wagon/SUV? That was him, getting all up in your Morning Edition. So apart from the obvious weirdness of him having a fan page on Facebook, what I find most disturbing about this ad is the lolcat of Mr. Kasell himself. What does im in ur machine answerin ur calls even mean? Who knows, but don't worry, this is really Carl Kasell.

Next is this ad for Jennifer Aniston. Nothing jumps out at you here, ads for skimpily clad women are nothing special on Facebook. But wait, what's that caption? Lordy, lordy, this woman is 40. What are they smoking at GQ? I can just imagine the thought process: "How can we get kids to click on this ad for a Jennifer Aniston photoshoot? Oh! I know, let's tell them that she's forty... and make it rhyme!"

Finally, the most absurd of all is for the Republican Party. Ignoring the facts that the elections are long over and that Facebook users are almost certainly predominantly liberal, what I really can't get over is that they pretend we don't know anything about the Republican Party. Thanks for the history lesson, but I don't think Abraham Lincoln can salvage my generation's view of the Republican Party, Facebook. Sorry!

Seen some weird Facebook ads? Send them our way.