Before I get to it… I need to tell you, this is not about politics. These days, there’s no faster way for a lifelong friend to “un-friend” you than to disagree with their politics. And… if you support the other side, it is as if you are going to vote for Beelzebub. You will be a pariah to them for the rest of eternity.
So… this is about the bottomless pit of political ads on Facebook.
Have you noticed the increase in political ads on Facebook? Yes, they are increasing everywhere, but now every time I go Into Facebook, there’s a political ad waiting for me. When I scroll down, it seems every other posting will be a political ad.
I was curious about all these ads, so I started poking around. I discovered something interesting. Each one of those ads has a little “i” somewhere in the upper right part. If you click on that little “i,” a pop-up will give you some information about the ad… who paid for it and stuff like that.
If you click on “More About This Ad” at the bottom (red arrow in the pic above), another window will open up, telling you how much that person or organization has spent on the ad.
HOLLY S***!!!!! It is astonishing how much has been spent on Facebook alone. Since May 2018, this PAC has spent nearly $27 Million.. and in the last week, over HALF A MILLION. Imagine how much spending there is across all platforms.
No… I’m not picking on Trump. They’re all like this!
I’ve shown just one PAC for one candidate. Imagine how much is being spent by all the PACs and the candidates. I did some checking, and it will astonish you how much all the PACs are spending. Go ahead… check it out for yourself. Facebook is making Billions!
I propose a new law requiring 50% of the money spent on all campaign ads on Facebook to go to the Saint. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Salvation Army, the ALS Association (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), or other equally worthy charities. Think of the good it would do.
WARNING!
Don’t do what I did!!!!!! Don’t click into any of those ads. I did. D’oh!!!!
You see, I saw an ad for Maxwell Schemdley. The ad: “Do you support Max YES – NO.”
Well… I like ole Max, so I clicked “YES.” D’oh!
Then a window popped up, “Take our survey,” so I clicked in… D’oh!!!!
The survey asked me what my main issues were and asked me for my email to complete the survey. So I filled in my email. D’oh!!!
After I checked the boxes for a few survey answers and clicked next, I was taken to a “Donate to Maxwell Schmedley” page. D’oh!
Sure… I like Max, but I’m not ready to donate. So I clicked “back” to get out. Nothing worked. Finally, I entered $0.00 in the amount. Yeah… you guessed it… bells and whistles went off. A fire engine siren drove through my office… Neeee-Naaaaa-Neeeee-Naaaaa. Then a hand reached out of the monitor and slapped my wrist with a 12” wooden ruler.
I didn’t know what to do. So I figured since I do like Max, I would give a minuscule amount. I entered $0.25 in the little box for a custom amount. I really didn’t think it would work. I just wanted to work up from the bottom end. To my surprise, up popped a new window prompting me to enter my credit card information.
I filled in all the information and pressed enter. The screen started flashing green. A band in my office started playing Happy Days Are Here Again After a minute, another screen popped up with a “Thank you” and a “Press Here to Exit” button. I clicked on the button, and the donation page closed.
Now I get 173 emails every day asking me for another donation.
D’oh!
P.S. You couldn’t resisting clicking on “Happy Days Are Here Again” could you? D’oh!