September 10, 2007

Contextual Ads Bite Bigot Butt

Sessions ad lands in surprising location

A Web site best known for “outing” gay members of Congress is not where you would expect to see a campaign ad for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile. But that’s exactly where you could find one last Tuesday: a four-line pitch on www.blogActive.com/ touting Sessions’ service to Alabama.

The blogActive site is run by Mike Rogers, a gay activist in the nation’s capital who has won new-found notoriety for raising questions last year about the sexual orientation of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig , R-Idaho.

. . .

“It’s not where we want to advertise at all,” Sessions campaign spokesman Chuck Spurlock said last week in response to Press-Register inquiries. But Google matches ads to sites where certain words appear, he said. The campaign has since blocked the ad from further appearances on Rogers’ site, he said.