ClickZ: Gmail: the Next Gator?

Oh, you want the
monster next door

Somehow in the past few months, advertisers have become more sensitive to the fact that people searching on their brand names and categories will find competitors advertising on search engines. This oddly timed awakening to the fact that they don't control all communications about the topics is now manifesting itself with hand wringing over other types of services that use context to serve up relevant ads. The complaint du jour: Gmail. Pam Parker compares the juxtaposition of competitive ads in emails to pop-ups spawned by Gator and other adware products that have attracted lawsuits over the matter. This is an interesting comparison, as there are certainly similarities between the two ad types, especially from the perspective of publishers and advertisers.

Gmail beta users tell MarketingVOX that the contextual ads look like the AdWords and AdSense ads seen in search advertising, rather than windows that may pop over or under existing pages and advertising.

But, in principle, all of these contextual ad types perpetrate the same act: they're spawned based on interest in a topic or company. If it's wrong to serve competitive ads in relevant materials for search, than the existing business model behind search is in trouble. Before the villagers gather the torches for the visit to Gmail's castle, they might want to revisit their definition of a monster.