Trial and Error

Election News Hunt Turns Into Online Shopping Excursion

February 6, 2008 7:52 AM

I went to ABCNews.com this morning to read some follow-up stories on Super Tuesday. I clicked on the video in the right-hand corner, a recap of the Election Day results.

An interesting thing happened. I paid attention to an ad. In fact, I paid attention to two ads. In fact, I paid attention to both the pre-roll and the post-roll.

Because they were so strange, so odd, so seemingly out of place. The pre-roll ad was for the Vermont Teddy Bear and the post-roll spot for a PajamaGram. Both were pitched as Valentine’s gifts for “her.”

Now, I’m used to seeing brand-name advertisers, like Honda or eTrade, on big news Web sites. But an online teddy bear company? A pajama seller?

But still I looked up both Web sites. And now I know that PajamaGram is owned by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Because I went to both Web sites after I saw the spots, simply out of sheer curiosity, simply because the products were so different from what I expected to see hawked on a major news site.

(And just in case my husband is reading this: No, this is not a subtle hint for Valentine’s Day.)

What I want to know is what was the last ad you remember seeing online, did you go to the company’s Web site afterwards, and will you get your honey a teddy bear or some jammies now for Valentine’s Day?