False/Misleading ads becoming commonplace

[Karæthon]

I have noticed a big increase in the number of ads that are nothing like the game they advertise. I have noticed several latelybwhich are almost exactly the same but with diferent graphics. Yhis is quite annoying to me, anyone else? I wonder is there a wau fir google/facebook/ironsource/etc to start doing something about this, I mean I wont even try anything new anymore because of it. Your thoughts?

 

[ocnbrze]

what ads are we talking about? like in the play store? if the ad is from within an app other then the play store, i usually just ignore them.

however, a few have caught my eye from time to time, and if it is free and its permissions are not invasive and looks good according to the description in the play store then i'll give it a go. if i do not like it, i'll just uninstall it. i'm pretty picky though. i'll only try the top 10 in whatever category of game i'm looking for. i do not delve to far down the list as the further you go the less trust worthy i find the apps or games.

 

[Karæthon]

Yes, I mean ads that are in-app. I've seen some that look really interesting so I download the app and its nothing like the ad. False advertising is illegal on tv, why are they not stopping it for online ads. It makes me not trust the content providers. Trusting Big G is kinda important today considering how embeded they are in our lives.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Yes, I mean ads that are in-app. I've seen some that look really interesting so I download the app and its nothing like the ad. False advertising is illegal on tv, why are they not stopping it for online ads. It makes me not trust the content providers. Trusting Big G is kinda important today considering how embeded they are in our lives.

I don't do ads (only use paid apps), so I've never seen what you're referring to, but I wonder if you've reported any of this to Google? They're pretty good at cleaning up when an app does something that breaks their rules.

Because these ads you're seeing are in apps, even if they're being fed by some ad service and not the app's developers, Google still may be able to clamp down on them. What you're describing is simply unacceptable, and should be reported.

 

[Karæthon]

Yeah, I agree but how the heck do I tell Big G? That's what I've never found.

 

[Shotgun84]

Ironically it's actually pretty impossible to find a Google customer services email address. Their email addresses are good enough for us but not for them apparently. Anywho, if you open the Play Store and press the three dot menu button there should be a help and feedback option at the bottom. The only way I can think of getting hold of them other than ring or post.

 

[MoodyBlues]

open the Play Store and press the three dot menu button there should be a help and feedback option at the bottom.

Yes, and it includes options for calling, chatting, or sending feedback.

 

[mikedt]

Haven't games ads always been overblown, misleading and inaccurate? I remember in the 80s, poster and magazine ads for Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum showing something completely different, to what I saw when I ran the games, and then been disappointed. It's nothing new.

Although any Google ads I see are often travel related, and not for mobile games. Maybe it's the demographics?

This is typical of Google ads I see, and it's definitely not for games.

 

[ocnbrze]

Haven't games ads always been overblown, misleading and inaccurate? I remember in the 80s, poster and magazine ads for Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum showing something completely different, to what I saw when I ran the games, and then been disappointed. It's nothing new.

Although any Google ads I see are often travel related, and not for mobile games. Maybe it's the demographics?

This is typical of Google ads I see, and it's definitely not for games.
View attachment 143141

it will depend on what you have been looking at in play store, over the web. this is why some folks feel that their privacy has been invaded. if i search for games then yes game ads will popup. if i search for bbq supplies, i will see ads for that. i never pay attention to them, unless i see something that offends me then i go into the little button at the top of each ads where you can request not to see those kinds of ads.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I remember in the 80s, poster and magazine ads for Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum showing something completely different, to what I saw when I ran the games, and then been disappointed. It's nothing new.

Interesting. Obviously, it's been a long time, plus my memory isn't what it once was, but my memories are different.

I specifically remember a print ad for the Commodore 64 showing a beautiful hot air balloon in flight. Once I had my C64, I wanted to see that balloon. I painstakingly typed its code [from the manual], clueless as to what any of it meant. Then the moment of truth, running it. And it ran--and looked exactly as I'd expected.

I saved that program on the tape recorder I'd connected to the C64 so we could watch the hot air balloons again. It was awesome.

PS I'm still not over my C64's disappearance. My husband--who is guilty as sin, and we both know it--insists he did not throw it away, and that it somehow got lost when we were moving into our new house. Ha!

 

[Hadron]

There have always been TV ads for games here with small print in the corner to say that the photo-realistic graphics are "not actual game footage". So I'd never assume that they were an accurate depiction.

The answer to Google/Facebook/the one I've never heard of "doing something" is "when people stop paying them". Given their attitude to genuine malfeasance I really doubt they'll care a damn about misleading adverts (especially since that's close to being an oxymoron).

I never see ads like this on my phone (I never see them at all on my computer), and I don't use an ad-blocker most of the time (the ones you can use without root clash with the network security in some places I visit). Probably down to the apps I use and sites I visit. I also take every measure available against tracking and have all as personalisation turned off (including in the Google settings) - I don't want to see ads at all, so where I do (small banners in apps that have no paid version - anything bigger is an immediate uninstall) I prefer them to be irrelevant as I'm going to ignore them anyway.