There are more than a few truths that the public has come to know about the Internet in the decades since its conception. In more recent years, most have become familiar with ads, which are generated based on users’ search history. Many seem to be under the impression, however, that Jason Whitlock may not be familiar with this concept. The polarizing sports pundit took to social media to discuss his dissatisfaction with the advertisement he spotted at the top of ESPN’s NFL page. Whitlock’s post has since gone viral, with many weighing on his perceived misunderstanding of how ads work.
Jason Whitlock took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and shared a screengrab from a recent visit to ESPN’s website. What he sought to highlight was a banner for an ad, which promoted sexual content. In sharing his sentiments, Whitlock linked out to the website and questioned whether such a piece of promotion was appropriate for the site. You can check out his response down below:
I’m looking at NFL standings on https://t.co/mwKPcWYZM0. This is the ad running above the standings. How is this possible? Appropriate? pic.twitter.com/GlMtT3VY1fJanuary 1, 2024
As mentioned, these thoughts from the 56-year-old media personality (who actually worked for the sports corporation years ago) seemed to suggest that he misunderstood the concept of targeted advertising. It didn’t take long for various users to flood his replies with responses, and they did not hold back. One user named @Pecker2002 suggested that given what’s known about ads, the Blaze reporter owes the public some answers:
Hmm. Algorithm says you’ve got some explaining to do.
When having this discussion, one must also mention the presence of cookies (and I don’t mean the ones you bake). I’m referring to the digital tools that help to track a user’s browsing activity. @HardFactorNews mentioned the small pieces of data while making a joke at the newsman’s expense:
When he enabled cookies, he thought he was getting a treat.
What a lot of commentators don’t seem to be doing, though, is blaming the widely watched ESPN for this viral post. And it’d be hard to do so, considering the logistics of targeted ads. Chances are this isn’t really a controversy that would worry the network (which just this week, had to release a statement after accidentally showing a woman flashing on air). At least one user, @doodlebobfather, believes Jason Whitlock was trying to make a valid point but came up short in that regard:
This man really thought he was tweeting some fire instead of outing himself as a weirdo 💀
Those out there who aren’t convinced of targeted ads need to do nothing more than test that theory by logging into the site themselves and see what pops up. Just the other day, I got an advertisement for computers on that same NFL page. A person named Sean Grahn also weighed in on this matter by showing off what he gets when he checks out the page:
I think that says more about your search history Jason. Mine shows a Chevy Silverado… pic.twitter.com/d5ayXsxuhoJanuary 1, 2024
On the surface, this would seem to be a social media snafu that’s gained more traction than Stephen A. Smith’s “horrific” Rihanna-related mistake. As a result, fans are going to have jokes, like they did when Smith’s on-air cohort, Shannon Sharpe, would accidentally call him “Skip” on air. Jason Whitlock has since responded to the flurry of comments via another X message, asserting that he knows how ads work:
I understand programatic ads. I know exactly why when I visit every other website I'm fed a steady stream of Intermittent fasting ads and weight-loss solutions. I get it. They know my search history. In the past 3 or 4 months, I've twice pointed out the ads on ESPN are highly sexualized.
Regardless of that, many are still coming for the pundit for his post. The backlash is likely to stop eventually. Yet, considering just how much attention this situation has received at this point, it might be reasonable to assume that the Internet is going to remember this ad-related matter for some time.
