Cute Girl of the Day..Why

[normalheightsfoodie]

Do we really need an add that promotes the Cute Girl of the Day. I can tell you that I will avoid viewing such sights. This is not the type of add that your readers want.

[Midlife]

Haven't seen on of the College Humor ads in several days. Either the comments caused a re-think or it's just part of the cycling referred to. I was glad to learn that you could click on and and register your thoughts, though I do think that should be reserved for only extreme cases on either end of the spectrum. My threshhold is pretty high for ads compared with the alternative of having to pay for the site.

[Cinnamon]

How about a Padma Carl's Jr. ad instead?

[Servorg]

Okay. But she must be restricted to the Chains board! ;-D>

[normalheightsfoodie]

I find that a turn off as well, and offensive to watch with my daughter. I do not watch Bravo anymore.

[ceekskat]

Offensive on many levels...from wikipedia

Lakshmi was brought up as a vegetarian[6] and has admitted that because of this, she sometimes becomes "squeamish" when sampling other cultural delicacies.[7] However, in 2009, she starred in a commercial for the Carl's Jr restaurant chain eating a Western Bacon Cheeseburger and credits the chain with bringing her away from vegetarianism.[8]

[KTinNYC]

Sigh, Padma has discussed her meat eating many times. Are people never allowed to change their religious views and lifestyle choices?

[The Chowhound Team]

Folks, if you're going to talk about ads that aren't running on our site, we'd ask that you take that discussion to our Food Media and News board. There are a few threads about the Carl's Jr ad already there, or you're welcome to start an additional thread.

[normalheightsfoodie]

How about just stop running the Cute Girl of the Day adds?

[Midlife]

I haven't seen one in almost a week.

[thew]

easy enough to stop. just buy the space yourself

[Servorg]

I plan on buying the space and putting up the largest, highest definition photo possible of Guy Fieri just after he's stuffed his face with one of the most messy concoctions ever seen on Diners Drive-In's & Dives. Everyone will be begging to bring the Cute College Girls back.... (insert Dr. Evil laugh here) ;-D>

[alkapal]

i could relate to that guy fieri photo, though. ;-).

[Servorg]

Don't get me wrong - I could too. I like the way Guy enjoys his food. I have found eating it and wearing it at the same time makes me a double threat!

[jfood]

Jfood thinks GF is great, love the show. His only negative is that he did a segment on Super Duper Wienie and jfood had to wait 30 minutes for his fix a couple of weeks ago.

May try the pizza at Psycho Suzi or something in MSP this week.

[normalheightsfoodie]

Similar situation in San Diego. He did a show on Hodad's Burgers and i am now living the Yogi Berra quote, "No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded."

[ceekskat]

I too was offended when these ads first appeared, especially with tweenie girls at home. At the time, I thought, why couldn't they run search engine ads such as hotwire, kayak, etc. Hah, finally seeing mysimon ads! DH says ad sales are sometimes sold in bulk by 3rd party so buyer may not be aware. Though, one would think with enough negative feedback, they would do something. Hopefully, contract runs out soon :)

[BigFatDynamo]

Maybe it's because I'm young(er) than others, or maybe it's because I'm a guy, but I don't see what the big deal is about an advertisement for College Humor. The idea that one would rather pay a subscription service than denigrate themselves by viewing a site (chowhound) that is subsidized by a website with questionable taste (College Humor) is absurd. We're subjected to worse than a wistful or simpering gaze during prime-time on TV, or are we all oblivious to the frequent commercials dealing with "erectile dysfunction", etc.?

Here's a tip: don't click on the site, put up an ad-blocker, or simply ignore it like you do all the other ads and banners that you never click on during your daily surfing. There's nothing NSFW on THIS site, so it shouldn't make much a difference if you're surfing from work (which you shouldn't be).

If equality is what some of the ladies desire, by all means, find a website with cute college boys and post the ads... but, if you're offended by ads like this, then I truly have no idea how you function in the real world. Find a real cause, like boycotting Shell Oil and all their subsidiaries (to name one).

[Jacquilynne]

Our advertising is a mix of ads targeted specifically at CHOW users and ads run across the CBS network. While not every network ad is going to be a perfect match for CHOW users, we are an advertising supported site, and we appreciate the advertisers who make the site possible.

If you have feedback on the ads, we really encourage you to click on grey "advertisement" text that appears above or to the right of each ad block rather than starting threads here. You'll be able to provide comments directly to our ad teams about what ads you do want to see on the site.

-- Jacquilynne, Community Manager for Chowhound

[Vetter]

Yes, but do you pay attention to what ads we DON'T want to see on the site?

I say that as someone who clicks on the gray advertisement text. If you want us to continue providing you feedback, we need some kind of positive reinforcement.

[Jacquilynne]

You can rate ads both positively and negatively, and the information goes directly to the ad sales team.

[bear]

Thanks for the info, Jacquilynne. It's good to know we can at least register our opinions about keeping Chow a quality site.

[thew]

chow is a quality site. advertising pays for that

[Midlife]

Does anyone remember the days when Jim or a mod would have replied to a topic like this? I don't find the ad particularly offensive, but more out of place here than anything else. But you gotta know that somewhere someone is commenting on how much attention this topic shows the ad gets.

[KTinNYC]

What do you want a mod to say? Chow took money for an ad and they placed the ad. Maybe they will take another ad similar to the Cute Girl of the Day or maybe they've learned there is a vocal number of hounds that dislike these ads. But at the end of the day Chow needs funds and advertisers aren't lining up to buy ads online so I think we all need to ask ourselves, would we rather have ads we don't like or would we rather have the site go away? I remember the days of sending money to Jackson Heights to pay the bills and I'd rather not do that again.

[Midlife]

Just saying that I find it interesting that the current ownership/structure is not responding in any way that I could see..... either to explain, defend or whatever. I can remember when there was a large response to the mere presence of ads on the site. I'm also glad that the days of concern that the site would go broke are gone.

The concern here doesn't seem to be about the idea of ads but about the content of this particular ad and its appropriateness to the user base. I don't find it offensive, as I said, but I do wonder WHY this type of ad is being paid for on a site like this. I guess it's working for them (CNet &/or ad buyer) or it would be gone, but it IS something of a head-scratcher for me, especially given how much presence it has.

[JeetJet]

My only complaint is the false advertising of these ads which may have a negative impact on the Cite. I have only found one of those co-eds to be cute. In fact, she was better than cute. Shes...... cheap. On second thought, maybe it is just my taste. I like cheap food also.. Maybe that is the connection between these adds and food -- Cheap.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Gaaacccckkkk! The "obsessed with pizza pie guy" just showed up again. Way more frightening than the college girls. Those thick flapping lips, tats, that sweaty look. Gimmie d' goils ennytime.

[Miss Needle]

I have a huge threshold for the ads you guys have had in the past. Doesn't bother me a bit -- okay, the Wendy's ad was a bit hideous looking. But the Cute Girl ad is bordering on offensive. Depending on the office culture, it's not appropriate for a lot of people who are browsing in the workplace (though one can argue that you should actually do work during work hours) to leave the window up. If you work in an office, you don't necessarily have control of the software that is installed to prevent those ads from coming up. And based on the number of posts, it seems that most people are browsing during M-F, 9-5.

[jfood]

jfood finds it offensive as well.

but how many of you outraged posters have used the words "food porn?"

cant have it both ways. once in the gutter you play with garbage.

[thew]

" We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

- - -Oscar Wilde

[thew]

honestly. those ads barely registered with me. it's an ad. get over it. no one is doing anything offensive in it. whatever that might be.

more to the point, there is a very easy way to control what ads are on chowhound. buy the advertising space yourself. put whatever you want in it. see how many people you offend.

other than that, ignore it. i'm sure there are worthier things to be offended by.

[Beach Chick]

"it's an ad. get over it. no one is doing anything offensive in it. whatever that might be'
When I click the ad, I see two chicks kissing..I really don't think this is the place to be seeing that kind of stuff..
This is a Food Forum, not a Porn site!

[billieboy]

This is what you get when you click on the ad. Perfect example.

http://www.collegehumor.com/picture:1...

[Beach Chick]

I was hoping that photo of me wouldn't make the internet...damn it!
; )

[billieboy]

:-)

[thew]

see, now you are going out of your way to be offended. That site wouldn't offend me at all, but - i didn't click on the damned thing either.

what's the classic definition of chutzpah?killing your parents and then asking the court for mercy because you're an orphan....

[billieboy]

I am not offended. I have seen much worse. I am just asking the same question as the OP. Why on a food site? Some of the ladies here are offended and some who have children don't want them to see it either. So??? tough eh because it doesn't offend you.

[thew]

i have a small child myself. here's the trick. don't open the website in front of them. the ads are just pictures of a girl's face. nothing oiffensive about the ads themselves.

why on a food site? because they paid the money. that's the way it works. As i said before there is a very simple way to guarantee ads you will not be offended by. Buy the ad space yourself.

[bear]

Even if it helps with underwriting, I think that Chow is shooting itself in the foot if it continues to run ads like the Cute Girl. I'm not offended by the ads,I just think they're silly and am turned off by their juvenile nature. I can't imagine that many potential new hounds aren't going to have a hard time viewing the site as a serious food site with such ridiculous images jumping out at them.

In addition, I personally won't have the site up at work when I have some down time. I work with kids, and it would be pretty inappropriate of me to send that message out to the kids I work with. I don't imagine that I'm alone in feeling like I'll spend less time on the site when others are around.

There may be some short-term financial benefit, but I think it will have a long-term negative impact.

[thew]

there's a better message to send kids that college is an appealing thing to aspire to?

[bear]

Just what I want my girls to aspire to..."Cute Girl of the Day".

[Vetter]

No kidding. The 12 year old girl in my life needs to know that she's more than a future piece of meat.

[chowser]

Who is being advertised on a site with most people old enough to be her parents and grandparents. Oh, that would be my friends and my parents' friends.

[wolfe]

Perhaps not most, although a lot.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/21417

[chowser]

There was a more recent thread (very long one) where most of the self-identified CHers were over 40, many over 60.

[wolfe]

Sorry I was on that more recent thread and didn't check the link or perhaps after 300+ posts, a lot of them OFs having fun, it was yanked. There were still many, many young folks including some teenagers.

[chowser]

Some younger but not the majority. But, if I were on the advertising team for Cute College Girls, I'd reconsider placing an ad here and find a site with closer demographics, mostly young male. Something along the lines of Jackass or Borat rather than CH. Or, they could aim for a site for dirty old men (unless they think CH is a site for DOM).

[Servorg]

Hey, hey now - I showered this morning! ;-D>

[chowser]

See, if a company wanted to hit the Clean Old Men demographic, this would be the perfect place for them! :-)

[moh]

Shhhh! Watch out! If they find out about the clean old men, we will be showered with Cialis and Viagra ads, whose demographics seem to be clean old men who want to get it on with their still attractive wives.... all very sterilized and acceptable.

[wolfe]

Sanitized not sterilized, please.

[moh]

LOL! Point well-taken.

[bayoucook]

Other food websites have ads that I might like. But the college girl one is just totally out of place here. Not offensive, but of no interest whatever. Come on CHOW: food!

[billieboy]

Agree, bayoucook. As a man I enjoy looking at a pretty girl as much as any other man but I wonder why they are here. If we posted some site that led to cheesecake (not the recipe kind) the mods would delete it before you could say "cheese" Double standard?

[bayoucook]

Makes you wonder..

[Nyleve]

Add me to the annoyed list. Seriously - I'm a middle aged woman. Do I need this?

[JohnE O]

I'm a little mystified at being offended by a picture of a college girl staring at me. Come on, it's not like they're walking on your lawn or anything.

[Withnail42]

Not offended. But thought it was odd to find such a link here.

[GodfatherofLunch]

This is awesome. How did I miss it ? Thanks, I checked it out and read the following exchange
What is your favorite jerky and why?
As in Beef? I love teriyaki! Oh and pepperjack. Yum! Jerky is money. Something to naw on.
Wow , she is deep, you can tell she is a college gal.
So don't be a hater, fix me a mashed tater.

[lynnlato]

O-M-G!

[MrsCris]

I get that Chowhound needs ad revenue. But I find the 'Cute College Girls' ads to be so offensive that I haven't wanted to spend any time on the site, with the girls' simpering eyes watching me.

[Glencora]

Actually, they're sulky more than anything else. Makes me want to slap 'em. (Not really.) Where are the cute college boys?

[Sam Fujisaka]

I'll send you my photo.

[insert sideways grinning moron icon here]

[lynnlato]

EXACTLY! Cute boys would be just over-the-top pornographic, but Cute girls? Yea, that's okay. lol

[thew]

wow. i know personal taste and all, but these ads are hardly offensive. a picture of a young pretty woman is offensive? i don't get it, but im not easily offended either

[thew]

just dont click ion the ad. better college humor pays for this site, then we need to pay a membership fee

[Monch]

Amen,

CH needs to turn a buck so that we can have this great site at our disposal.

[Vetter]

Gah. No way. I don't subsidize sexist crap in my daily, "offline" life, and I don't want to subsidize it here. CBS/Chow, I'd rather pay.

[invinotheresverde]

I think the ads border on offensive.

[moh]

Yup. It has been driving me nuts as well. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

It's almost as annoying as the recent spate of Cialis ads on TV.

back to eating.

[Servorg]

Now if they put those two ads adjacent to one another it might get me to take note. ;-D>

[KTinNYC]

These ads are so PG bordering on G.

[invinotheresverde]

On a food board? They're obnoxious.

"Nothing screams college like girls experimenting" is really what I want to see when I'm looking for a recipe for creme brulee.

[LindaWhit]

Agree - on a food board, they're completely unnecessary. Not sure why Chow or Chowhound has agreed to let their ads come through.

[KTinNYC]

It's not like there is a flood of advertisers for websites, chow probably needs revenue where they can get it. Someone has to pay the bills.

[Servorg]

And as Jim Leff has said here many times in the past, someone seems to always be offended by something. Where does the site draw the line? This ad seems pretty innocuous in the larger scheme of keeping the site up and going.

Taking offense seems to have become something of a "National pastime" as far as I can tell.

[LindaWhit]

I know all about the bills needing to be paid. But it's a food board. I'm sure there are plenty of food-related ads that can be used instead.

[KTinNYC]

If you can find the food related advertisers for chow you should get a job in ad sales for the site because it's clear that CBS and CNET are having a hard time finding these advertisers.

[LindaWhit]

Then there has to be plenty of OTHER non-food related click-thru advertising other than "Cute College Girl of the Day", KT.

[KTinNYC]

Do you know this to be true or do you just believe it to be true? I for one am not certain there are advertisers lining up.

[LindaWhit]

I would *hope* there would be other advertising that CHOW and CH could use or choose to feature other than this particular ad. Click-through ad agencies (and/or Google AdWords) should be able to target advertisers well enough to avoid this.

[Beach Chick]

I have several websites that get over 50k hits a day and I use Google AdSense and you can omit certain ads on your website..
Some ads are worth more.
Google places ads that are relevant to your site..
I don't see the relevance to College Humor and Chowhound...except that they start with 'C'...makes me think that Chowhound chooses to have these ads...probably to piss people like me off!
Where's the 'Cute College Guy of the day' ads at?

[KTinNYC]

The Cute College Girl's ads aren't placed by Google's AdSense are they? Those are are on the lower right hand side of the page.

[lynnlato]

"Where's the 'Cute College Guy of the day' ads at?"

That's what I wanna know, BC. Yep, my guess is this site draws more women than men - for the sake of fairness, bring on the cute college boys, por favor!

[Gio]

Yeah, boy toys... That's what we need..............(^^)//

Oh Saaaammmmm.......

[vvvindaloo]

Hear, hear!
I was initially among the mildly-offended Chowhound users w/regard to these ads, but now I figure, hey- if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
Bring on the guys (preferably not student age, though)
:)

[alkapal]

cou-gar, cou-gar, cou-gar!

ha ha. i just explained to my 87-year-old mom what a "cougar" was.

[Rmis32]

Offensive? That seems a bit strong to me. Inappropriate? Well, I never see mashed potato ads on my favorite porn sites.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Best response yet.

[Bobfrmia]

I would agree it's not the kind of ad you would expect to see on Chowhound. That said, I think I must have tunnel vision, cause I've never noticed it, or pretty much any other ad, even though I come here several times a day.
I'm not sure if I'm focused, or inattentive. It also makes me wonder who markets the ad's for that site. Let's advertise on Chowhound? Yeah, that seems like the place to make some money.
Weird.

[lynnlato]

What, men who love food can't also love cute college girls? Good food & girls = mutually exclusive? LOL

[chowser]

Especially if anyone has read the thread on the average age of CHers, these girls can be most CHers' daughters or granddaughters.

[bear]

Certainly makes it somewhat awkward to view the site at work.

[FoodFuser]

Could the Cute Girls at least be doing some demos of food preparation techniques or at least displaying some food items a la the Bob Barker Babes? All they are doing now is the single dish of Cheesecake.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Really, was thinking the same. And, worse, they all appear to be hakujin!

[Servorg]

"And, worse, they all appear to be hakujin"

Root z-epicanthoplasty run amok...

[Sam Fujisaka]

You are funny!

[wolfe]

Check out page 43 "Jet" , although lately an occasional supermarket checkout peek has been disappointing.

[Beach Chick]

Thought the same thing..
The site is basically a gussied up porn site..one of the links to College Humor..
'Nothing screams college like girls experimenting'...WTF?
I shouldn't have to install ad blockers.
Come on Chowhound.. You are better than this!

[alanbarnes]

http://adblockplus.org/en/installation

Works like a charm. Unless you want to see the cute girl of the day, that is.

[lynnlato]

I was going to post about the very same thing. She's staring at me right now. What's next... Hannah Montana ads?

[Boccone Dolce]

She's staring at me too! She's probably eyeing the piece of cornbread I'm eating.