As I read through this article on the NY Times today, coincidently about online advertising, my eyes wandered to the Google Adsense module. Now mind you, the article is about ad networks.

You know, I can look the other way on the praying upon the weight challenged people ad. After all, that’s a significant percentage of all Americans so hey, odds are it’ll work. Venture capital? Well, sure. There’s no question the Financial community reads the NYT.

What really irks me is the text ad for a Russian news site which headline reads. “Iraq chaos: 130 dead”. Love the second line, “…Watch Video!” No evidence of any such story on the site and quite revolting marketing (call to action). What’s next? “Come watch the carnage in Darfur via our live streaming video!”

Way to go on that Adsense moderation algorithm Google! Jeez.

Today’s gem comes to us courtesy of Yahoo! There’s nothing like curling up with a great audio book (huh?) like “The Call of The Wild” and having dreams of becoming an NCAA athlete. I’m sure that’s what Jack London had in mind when he penned this classic.

This was almost too easy. Every ad in the unit was non contextual. I guess Yahoo! believes anyone who wants to download a free audio book must be getting ready to apply for college. Perhaps it’s not that big of a stretch. Why bother reading a book when you can listen to it the night before your test. Brilliant!

Thanks to FreeClassicAudobooks.com for today’s AdBomb! I’m sure the clicks are piling up.

Here’s a great example of non contextual text advertisements. The snappy copy was delivered by quigo, using their AdSonar network and displayed on Fox News.

The article is titled, “Clinton Claims ‘Tide is Turning’ After After Defeating Obama in Pennsylvania”

Poor Hillary, just when she’s getting ready to party in Pennsylvania, this is thrown in her face. Bad Teeth AND Bad credit? Tough day for Barack and definite AdBomb for the publisher site.