The Bizarre Side of Ad-serving Software: United Ad Unintentionally Mocks Airline Victim

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1	The Bizarre Side of Ad-serving Software United Ad Unintentionally Mocks Airline Victim
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The Bizarre Side of Ad-serving Software
United Ad Unintentionally Mocks Airline Victim

by Matthew O'Donnell
IT & Ops Manager, BusinessMedia

While working with our publisher on today's issue, I came across the below Chicago Tribune online story. The article, “Body Parts Fall from Plane to LI Backyard,” covered the recent news of a South American Airlines flight from Johannesburg, South Africa.

To my dismay, running next to this article was an United Airlines ad - touting extra leg room! This ad - running right next to an article about an airline stowaway that had his legs severed - in midair flight!

Screen Shot of United Ad Running On www.chicagotribune.com

Such a bizarre twist of advertising fate highlights the challenges online ad-serving software and media firms face when relying solely on key-word and algorithmic software.

An old-fashioned print editor can easliy catch such morbid snafus. Online gaffs like this - for the time being -will only be caught by cringing readers murmuring "poor United...."