I bought some headphones today (OcUK doesn't sell the ones I wanted) and happened to notice an entry near the top of the related products recommendation list. Dog calming pills. It was strange enough to attract my attention and give me a bit of a laugh. Dog calming pills aren't what comes to my mind as something that pairs well with headphones. Not even if I had a dog.
The strangest "related" product recommendation I've had...
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Caporegime
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Did the headphone product description include "noise cancelling"?
I've had some really odd related product suggestions - this gets into kind of strange territory as it seems somehow Amazon/Google are using household results in the mix which skews results - i.e. if someone in my household was browsing lawnmowers I will start to see gardening items appearing in my suggestions and/or ads.
The worrying bit is when it starts suggesting weird clothing or sex toys...
The worrying bit is when it starts suggesting weird clothing or sex toys...
It's not exactly the same situation, but in the same broad vein.
At work once, a colleague sent round an email about some friends who were going to be on a TV show, and apologised for the massive plug.
I thought "wouldn't it be funny if I said 'that's not a massive plug, this is', and sent a picture of an oversized 3-pin electrical plug back".
Anyway. The moral of the story is, don't do a google image search for "massive plug" at work. Actually, don't do it anywhere.
At work once, a colleague sent round an email about some friends who were going to be on a TV show, and apologised for the massive plug.
I thought "wouldn't it be funny if I said 'that's not a massive plug, this is', and sent a picture of an oversized 3-pin electrical plug back".
Anyway. The moral of the story is, don't do a google image search for "massive plug" at work. Actually, don't do it anywhere.
Going with the recommendations theme...
Made the mistake of clicking on a video on YouTube because the thumbnail was a pretty lady, maybe watched another one
. Was some Twitch person, for about 2 weeks kept getting Twitch clips of these human vacuums recommended. Also watched one or two of that prat Cyclingmikeys videos when someone mentioned him on here, again bombarded with his videos as ‘recommended for you’
Made the mistake of clicking on a video on YouTube because the thumbnail was a pretty lady, maybe watched another one
. Was some Twitch person, for about 2 weeks kept getting Twitch clips of these human vacuums recommended. Also watched one or two of that prat Cyclingmikeys videos when someone mentioned him on here, again bombarded with his videos as ‘recommended for you’
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Ah, maybe that was the connection. I don't know if the description on the shop page did include those words because I didn't read it. I'd already looked into the headphones, so on the shop page I just checked that it was the right model and resistance. They don't have active noise cancellation but they are closed and fully enclose the ear so there's some degree of passive noise blocking and the description might well have made some mention of it.
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Then you know what they're buying you for Christmas! I hope you enjoy your zebra sex mask
They do use household results. Since they routinely track people's locations, they know when orders on different accounts have been placed from the same location and/or have been delivered to the same non-business address. They'll also have access to other sets of data showing relationships between people. Acquiring and integrating data on people is a big part of business nowadays.