The New York Times ran a heart-breaking 7500-word article in today’s Sunday Magazine about Sandy Bem’s struggle with Alzheimer’s and her resolution that before the disease stole her mind, she would kill herself. It was a brave piece of reporting. But an mobile ad placement stopped me dead cold.
![last-days-nyt](https://www.mironov.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/last-days-nyt.png)
The print edition, glossy and sophisticated as the Sunday magazine always is, keeps most ads on separate pages so that content/pictures can flow smoothly. The only same-page ad was toward the end of the printed article, for a senior-friendly stairlift. The (web) online version included geo-targeted sports ads for major league soccer and professional skateboarding. No angst for me.
The mobile (iOS/Safari) edition showed a wildly inappropriate ad for Tile which reads “I lose my keys ALL. THE. TIME.” Every early Alzheimer patient’s deepest fear. It appeared every few inches, probably ad-tech-selected for content words like “memory.” Or perhaps just a statistical fluke, since Tile is a heavy advertiser with The Times. Either way, hard for me to choose between being deeply offended and encouraged that Big Brother Data doesn’t yet anticipate every reaction of mine.
![IMG_1727](https://www.mironov.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_1727-576x1024.png)