I know most people would prefer all those ads on every page they pull up on the Internet, and such ads presented as 'suggested posts' on their social networking sites would just go away, and many use ad-blockers to avoid them. But for me, I've learned to use noticing them, and even clicking on to take a closer look, at some of those ads, as a way of keeping a finger on the pulse of what is really going on out in the world. Some relates to politics, some to social justice issues, some to just the general direction public interests are trending, and many are readily recognizable as scams luring in naive victims.
Those that intrigue me most, draw me into looking closer, to see what they are really about, what is really going on, are both those I recognize as high scam potential, and then, those that are clearly not what they seem, are presenting as, but are actually something very different. Sometimes I suspect the two types are working together, the scam ads seeking what technique work best to draw people in, what are people most often vulnerable to, what they will readily "buy into," and those I will call political-social agenda propaganda intended to subtly influence 'public perception and opinion' under the guise of advertising some product or service. Knowing what many people will "buy into" is a tremendously useful tool in determining how to effectively present political, social, or religious propaganda.
As demonstration of what I'm talking about here, consider the political/social propaganda presented in the appearance of such ads with lead-in banners stating as if an assumed 'fact,' that "due to changes Obama has made in "policies" related to "qualifying" for some form of "benefit" under some government program or government regulated industry, YOU TOO may now qualify for something for nothing, at government (TAX PAYER) expense!
The "service" offered is usually along the line of helping you apply and qualify for some actual "government program," but the ease of qualifying and/or the huge financial benefit you might gain is extremely exaggerated, supporting the popular propaganda toward convincing people Obama is taking more and more of YOUR tax dollars to GIVE them to unworthy and undeserving others.
Common themes among such ads:
"Changes" Obama has made so as to make it 'easier than ever to qualify' for even greater than ever dollar amounts in disability benefits, welfare benefits of many kinds, student grants of 'free money' for college even if your income is as high as $80,000, as one such ad claims, and absurdly misrepresented and outright false assertions of how much a home buyer "underwater" on their mortgage can get knocked off the capital amount of their mortgage loan under a refinance, topped with an alluring dollop of sweet frosting of extremely low interest rates and monthly payments.
Key is that most such "changes" attributed the Obama, that "assume" it is easier than ever before to cash in on generous government benefits, something for nothing at tax payer expense, are either entirely false, there have been no changes in that program under the present administration, or, any changes or new regulations and policies enacted are far from being the easy gravy train the ad presents as an "assumed fact" before jumping into how YOU can take advantage of the new opportunity for "free booty from the government," that isn't actually there.
In closer examination, with application of careful reasoning and actual sound facts, discrediting the claims in these ads, and seeing them as often nothing more than a venue for advancing a childishly simplistic propaganda, doesn't take much real cognitive effort or mental challenge. Sometimes it doesn't even take that to see through them if you are open, not already closed in your own opinion on the matter, for the claims are so obviously absurd. And certainly, anyone thinking to actually follow up on their offers are sure to find they've fallen for a scam, followed a false lead, a phony 'come-on.'
But when what they are advancing seems to support things their target audiences already believe, WANT to believe, those people will simply accept the headline banner as if a true fact, that further reinforces their perception of the validity of their own already held opinion.
Since it is unlikely, it seems to me, for average individuals, not matter how strongly they hold any political of social position, the question arises, then, just "who" IS creating these "pseudo-businesses" and running ads for them?
The answer to that seems pretty evident to me. But I'll leave you to arrive at your own conclusions.
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