Off with the Ads!

Hi readers,
I had switched on Ads on this blog to explore if there's any chance of
a little income generation.. a couple of months on I've decided to
switch them off.

For one, there was practically no earnings. And in return, when I
visited my blog, I was embarassed to see promotions for the very
things I've been writing and advocating against!

One day there was an ad asking for donations to BJP's Modi for PM
fund. The next day there was an ad asking donations to Congress's
election campaign.

And then there are these ads for online clothes and gadgets stores...
and I know that the major ones like Flipkart are pursuing seriously
predatory competitive practices : I've personally heard of cases of
them lowering their sale price below the cost price, and enduring a
loss (which with their large coffers they have the capacity to), just
so that all buyers buy from them, they capture the market and starve
other sellers. So they'll actually sell at loss just for the sake of
shutting down competitors. Anyways, such companes' ads I found on my
blog. Yikes.

And then there's ads encouraging you to buy a car or a bike... Which
will only increase your dependency on fossil fuels, plus yet another
nail in the planet's coffin!

Google's Adsense account has extensive settings and all, I explored
that, but there's no end to what categories I have to check on and
off. No matter how many areas I keep blocking, I ultimately have no
influence over the ideological decisions of which ads to display.

For example, I'd love to see ads calling for contributions to
grassroots movements, campaigns for sustainability and justice, and
currently I'm also finding AAP as a worthy alternative. But their
stuff will never come, as the bad guys have paid more money. It's
money power which ultimately dictates which ad will be shown, and so
any choices given to me are window-dressing.

So, off with Adsense. My sincerest apologies to readers for shoving
these ads in your faces : I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't
happen now on. (Of course, I won't have a choice if the blog service
provider decides to show ads irrespective of whether I like it or
not!)