I figured I’d wait until I got at least a dozen complaints about the delicious-yet-scary-looking steak in that PETA ad in my sidebar before I commented upon it. We have reached that threshold, so let me explain:
They gave me money.
Duh. It’s a BlogAd space, and advertisers have to pony up the cash before you can decide to approve or decline the ad. I’m no fan of PETA, but what kind of moron would I have to be to see the $200 payment they offered and then reject the ad? Come on now. Besides, they have a point. Factory farms are cruel and disgusting.
Anyway. I hate my job and want to go back to college (my first degree was in communications, haha) so that I can make six figures by the time I hit my 40’s. Am thinking of enrolling in some science prereqs this fall and in a year or two I can enter some sort of graduate-level medical professional field. All still in the planning stages.
In any case, business is slowing down a lot with work because it’s summertime and all the doctors are going on vacation. If I got another job, I would have to stop blogging.
Knowing how many hearts and souls would be crushed by that, I’m going to engage in some blog monetization experiments to see if this site can fill in the new gaps in my income and thus make it worth my time to keep at it. You may have noticed there are more ads in the sidebar, and tough shit if you don’t like. Get ready because I’m about to stick one across the top, too.
tipped me off to some ad services that are far superior to Google Adsense (which never earned me any money and slowed down my site), and it looks like I might be able to pull in enough to replace the lost wages this summer if I stick an ad banner across the top and raise my price a little. It would help if you click on the ads, too. Do it.
I promise I won’t turn my site into Times Square but I’ve already decided that anyone who bitches about the ads will get the Chuck Norris Unique Hidden Gusset kick to the nuts. At least I’m not doing paid posts or sticking ads within posts themselves…yet.
Frankly, I think it’s pretty stupid that I get more traffic and have more loyal readers than other bloggers who actually make a living at it while most of the time, I only clear the equivalent of minimum wage for the time I spend on this thing (and that’s from donations). It’s stupid on my part because I’m afraid of annoying people with ads, so I’m getting over that since it’s no fun being stupid.
I noticed the footer vodka ad, too …
Steak, Vodka … you just need to add garlic bread …
Nah. You had me from “steak”!
I fully agree. That is why we raise and process (or hunt for) our own meat. My children refuse to eat anything from a store — they say it tastes “spoiled and weird”. And we have, as part of FFA, toured processing plants. No fun there.
Go for it, Rach. When it comes to dealing with advertisements, I am of the Cartman on the Maury show philosophy … cuz’ ah most definitely do what ah want!
Oh, I’ve personally witnessed some REALLLLLY fun stupid …
Just please avoid those damned flyout Flash ads that load automatically and drop down over the rest of the page.
Bracing for impact!
Click on them? We haz to click on dem? Will traffic alone help, or does it only help if we make zee purchases?
I actually don’t mind the meat one either — factory farms are the main reason that home-grown mutton is my preferred flesh :) (also why everyone who can should go to Chipotle!).
Happy to help out the goddess of Texas, long may she reign. =D
PETA – People Eating Tasty Animals.
Pageviews are ok; click-throughs are good; purchases are unnecessary in most arrangements.
I know factory farms are horrible, but that image just makes me hungry.
Go for it, girl. I hope you make tons ‘o money from ads!
You mean people still look at banner ads? Go go magic adblock+ ;-)
Spiffing!
This is America. It’s capitalism. Fight the good fight. Show those socialists and commies what it’s all about.
And keep the funny coming.
Ooh, that steak looks like it came from one tasty animal!
I like my steaks rare, so that picture just makes me hungry.
14K… I’m sorry to hear that your children are budding racists, them finding certain foods yucky and all…. ;-)
Thanks!
I suspect a sizeable portion of your readership (self included), have killed, gutted, and cleaned plenty of their own meat. Mmmmmm mmm, yummy venison. Not only will they not be bothered by it, but it’ll make them hungry.
However, the constant condescending presence of PETA is annoying, sorta like the flies buzzing around the gut tub.
RE: the steak pic- I just thought you were teasing Sunny or something.
MY degree was in Communications too. See where it got me?
I think, as long as you are not vehemently opposed to what is being advertised, it doesn’t matter what displays in your sidebar. So long as your readers find it interesting, that’s all that matters.
And from a reader’s perspective, I’d prefer provocative ads that make me stop and think more than bland ones anyday.
Place as many ads on this blog as you want. If this site allowed you to not have to work a full-time gig, that would grant us, your humble audience, more bloggy goodness from you. Which, in my estimation, is a plus. So clutter up that sidebar! Cover the header! Emblazon the comments! And make money; big money.
My Sister-in-law — who now trains guide dogs for a living — was also a Communications major!
Per aspera ad astra, Rachel!
Go for it Rachel. Besides, I suspect PETA is wasting their money pitching this to us. I for one, am all for them wasting their money.
I clicked on the piece of meat and watched the video. It freaked me out. Especially about the milk cows.
I’m still very freaked out. But of course, I wonder how credible this report is. You can never really trust PETA.
If you could write a post on how accurate the PETA video (about meat industry), that would help my lazy butt from doing the research. And before you give me a “boot to the head” for asking for a free blog post, I’ve just donated to you. :)
But up to you if to decide if you wanna do it. :) I enjoy your blog every day so it’s worth it either way for me.
With Firefox, most of the ads don’t show up for me anyway. I pretty much just see the dog food ad.
When PETA starts airing videos showing GOOD meat farming practices as well as BAD meat farming practices, I’ll watch and listen.
Until then, NO, they do not have a point.
Hopefully you’ll post a good long definition of ‘cruel’ and ‘disgusting’ in this context. My definition of cruelty is something like “the unnecessary suffering of an animal raised for the purposes of becoming food.”
And cost is a major component of the definition of “unnecessary.”
Back to school–good for you!! I started back last year and contrary to what we see at the mall, the Youth of Today are pretty alright. It does require a sustained strength of will to fight off the feeling of impending decrepitude in the face of all that 19 & 20 year-old-ness though.
Ads: some of y’all are getting vodka ads? I’ve just got multiple chances to learn Climate Tips. Jeez.
Ditto.
‘Course this means I miss half of what you’re talking about in this post – which, really, is ok!
My brother was a journalism major also, he’s in marketing…..does anyone that majors in journalism journalize?
Nope. That’s where failed business majors end up.
Smart j majors get a master’s and take over the world.
I am also a underwater basketwea… comminications major. And now I am just a cog in the corporate machine. They pay better than those damned communications jobs…
Now, at 40 I am going back to school for Computer Science and terrified.
I have never cleaned or gutted my own dinner but I does love me some bambi. :) (I knows peoples.)
I like factory farms. In fact, I often go to them just to watch the little factories out gamboling in the fields. Of course some of the growing factories are planted over in the cultivated fields but they’re just not as much fun to watch.
If you’ve never seen a baby factory nursing at it’s mommy’s shipping dock, well, you’ve really missed something.
That meat picture makes me hungry EVERY TIME! It makes me want to BBQ, and now that it’s nice, I have been. PETA is sucky at making ads against meat, because it just makes me want to eat more steak…
Oops, I think I just drooled on my keyboard…
In other news: I work as a communications assistant and it is super fun! You could do communications for smaller companies, like your own business kind of thing. I think they call it “Boutique PR.” You should Google Peter Shankman, he does that sort of thing.
You should see if you can get a blog ad for one of those ‘meat is murder. tasty murder’ tshirts. That would work.
I just had chicken-fried bambi’s mom the other day, coming from an animal I shot, skinned, gutted, and butchered myself.
Mmm. Venison.
Blocking ads makes Baby Jesus cry.
I don’t understand. My niece was a communications major and made 6 figures right out of school. I am currently trying to talk my nephew into shifting from majoring in video games to communications.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Yes. [sigh] I am a 12 year old boy today.
Communications = technology.
Communication = media (wordsmithing for minimum wage, usually).
Sometimes communication majors start out in lucrative broadcast careers, but they usually end up starting as somebody’s flunky-gofer.
Common mistake, sir.
Mmmmmm…. rare cow meat!! Yummo!!
BTW, Rachel– if you need any advice for getting into (grad?) school at the age of 30-whatever– I’ll be glad to give you the Sooper Seekrit Behind teh Sceenz Tour. We’re about a year apart, and I just got accepted to a PhD program in biosciences.
ahhh video games – if only I could get paid mad cash for testing video games… (I can’t program and am not artistic enough to create my own mods or levels)
sigh
Yeah for you!
A freshly-minted PhD (2 hours ago defended, 1/2 hour ago committee signed the paperwork) just left my office, where we finalized his dissertation and diploma forms!
I am not *officially* working today, just wanted to be in my office for this special occasion with my student.
As long as the banner ad doesn’t cover Sunny’s picture, knock yourself out.
Hooray for capitalism.
Rachel — I started selling about 5 months ago…each month my revenue has increased nicely. So far for July, my current revenue for the month is $375.
The text link ads are really unobtrusive — almost all of the text link ads I’ve sold have been on older posts; I’ve never had one appear on the front page (most recent 15 posts for me).
Also, there is no minimum revenue before they pay you. I get paid quickly and reliable every month via Pay Pal.
Just another option you might want to consider.
Money talks. It usualy says “Bend over,” but money does talk.
While I hate loathe and despise the hypocritical A-holes that are PETA I understand and as for bomarding the page with ads hey it’s cool with me as long as it helps it so you can contintue to enlighten and richen our lives each day I say GO FOR IT!:)
I agree, but have you watched the linked video? Ugh. I love to eat meat too (especially the venison my bro-in-law brings home each hunting season), but some of the animals in the video are clearly suffering. Unnecessarily.
I think Antarctica too
(edit) That’s weird, that was supposed to be on the NEXT post!
That’s a PETA ad? Given this site I never looked closely and just assumed it was one of those places that will ship you steaks. Advertising here? Someone’s marketing algorithm is seriously hosed.
Rachel, if this double posts, I apologize, but I got an error the first time and lost the posting.
Jim Carson made me remember something about PETA. Last year (I think it was, I’m too lazy to go check) PETA was on trial here in NC for cruelty to animals (I think there were two convictions). Seems they were picking up dogs to take to a shelter, but were killing them once they had them in the van instead “to protect them from the shelter,” or some such nonsense. They got caught dumping a whole slew of dog carcasses.
And it’s not the first time.
A good round up of PETA’s rabidly unethical tactics can be found here:
Rachel, dearest, I’d give you as much money as you needed if I had enough for myself.
I was a Communications Major in 1981. With a Broadcast/Film Production minor. I graduated third in my class. And I have never once worked a tv or film set. instead, I hit the road in a rock band for three solid years and became a stage technician. then a stage manager. Then a glorified flunky. I never made much money but I got to work with some big names in music.
Now I’m deeeeep in debt and a software developer for Citigroup. Yeah, in the Mortage/Real Estate lending department.
I wonder if I can still haul an SVT 8X10 like I used to?
Take whatever ad you can get babe!
I think I was the first to comment on the ad. I actually am a vegetarian (shock) and used to belong to PETA. I joined because of factory farming and how IAMS was killing and disecting dogs to see the benefits of their food. I left PETA because I think how they attack children when they are going to the circus or when mom is wearing a fur is abusive. And they were total dillwads when Steve Irwin was killed.
If their money is good take it. My in-laws aren’t on list of favorite people. They give us cash at Christmas. Hubby wanted to return it. I talked him into donating to McCain. The in-laws hate him. A perfect solution!
ChicagoCindy,
Yes, I watched the first half of the video. Yes, there is some abject, no-doubt-about-it cruelty in there. But I have questions that PETA’s video did not answer:
1) Are any of these videos quite old and no longer applicable?
2) Which of the acts I saw were legal, and which were not legal?
3) Were all videos shot in the US?
4) Why is slicing the throat of a chicken while it is still conscious cruel?
5) What do we have to do to ensure NO chicken EVER reaches the boiling defeathering vat alive? How much does that cost?
5a) What do we have to do to ensure NO child EVER is burned by pulling a boiling pot from the stove onto himself? How much does that cost?
…this list could go on for a long time, but the bottom line is there will always be animal cruelty, but PETA is the absolute worst entity (except maybe for Michael Moore) to give us a balanced perspective on it.
Wachel:
Just be a ho.
We all see PETA’s ads and laugh that they might one day read your post about Maggie devouring a possum.
Just take the damn money and run, run like the wind…
Capitalism rules! I always wonder, though: Don’t the people buying ad space on blogs know about tools like AdBlockPlus for FireFox?
The Hub and I are preparing this very hour to sit down to a bigass BBQ BRISKET dinner with friends. Corn on the cob. Grilled shrimp for an appetizer. Choc cake made by my gourmand friend for dessert. No cobs were harmed in the making of this meal.
tibby said
My brother was a journalism major also, he’s in marketing…..does anyone that majors in journalism journalize?
Yup. JOUR 1994, Cal Poly SLO. 13 years as a magazine editor.
Sounds like a plan. Monetizing and capitalism are good. The only problem I have with most blog ads is that it takes so damned many to actually make a halfway decent income that half of the blogs out there end up looking really, really tacky. It’s a signal-to-noise ratio problem, and I don’t think it’s going to get any better anytime soon. Then again, when you have to whore yourself out, your market rate isn’t determined by who or what you’re willing to do, but instead by what the whore next to you is willing to do, and who they’re willing to service… and, in that context, some plentiful ads makes as much sense as anything else.
Not saying you’re a whore or anything, mind you – just using that as an analogy.
One for PETA, one for organic human-grade pet food.
Fair and balanced.
just so you know, that PETA ad just made me want to go buy a nice juicy steak for myself. You think they’ll be pissed?
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve always thought that bloody steak looked delicious. So not only is PETA giving you money — they’re making me crave steak.
Rachel,
I get your point about needing the money, so I’m not going to complain. But I noticed that most of the commenters have been pretty soft on PETA. Am I still allowed to say that they are a bunch of fucking lunatics? They believe animals are equal to human beings, that factory farms are the equivalent of the Holocaust. That’s just psychotic. So as long as I’m allowed to say that, I’m fine with you taking their money.
“Why is slicing the throat of a chicken while it is still conscious cruel?”
Now, that’s damn funny!!!
‘Round here we don’t think it’s cruel; we call it the “Sharp-Pointy Love Caress.”
Get rich.
Then get more.
I’ll put up with strobing ads to read your stuff.
Recovering Liberal:
Looks like you were leaving Cal Poly just as I was arriving (Comp Sci ’95-2K). Which means you must have seen the last of the Poly Royales… I’ve heard stories.
Doesn’t PETA do those nekkid-womyn-against-fur ads? I might turn off Adblock for those…
I fully support your decision to put ads all over this page and not just because I can’t see them either. You should be making money off this site.
“Making capitalism my bitch.”
Sounds interestingly kinky, in a straight to dvd sort of way.
Jim Carson – You only watched half of the video? Interesting; what made you stop?
I fully agree with each of your points, and have no answers, personally. I also think PETA is a bunch of loonies. However, just watching animals suffer like that makes me physically ill, and I think they deserve a quick and as-painless-as-possible death; it’s the least we can do as humans.
First of all: Capitalism ROCKS! To echo a comment further up the chain, as long as you don’t get any of those really annoying ads that show up over the post text, and you have to close it to see the text, go for it!
For the PETA video, I’m going to have to call bullshit. If any of those were less than 20 years old, they weren’t in this country. Unless they have repealed the rules, Cattle going to slaughter are REQUIRED to be stunned (or perhaps killed, not quite sure) with a shock-gun before being strung up and bled (when you watch this happen, you know it’s not overly cruel – the guy touches the gun to the cow’s forehead, and it hits the floor, instantly). Also, you can’t load chickens the way those guys were slamming them into those boxes and sell them in this country. It bruises the meat, and no one would buy it. My father got in horrible trouble when he was a boy, the time he killed the chickens and threw them in the air to watch them flop around. Not because he got caught, he didn’t. Rather because his father knew, because the meat was so badly bruised.
Further, on large-capacity farms today. Also seen on Dirty Jobs.
There were other practices going on in that video that are just counter to maximizing profit, like leaving carcasses in with the chickens and turkeys. It promotes disease, and kills more birds, and reduces margins.
Also, I know that there are regulations on how many and how large lesions are allowed in meat, so the story about the lesions on the cattle is unlikely. I could go on, but I’m sure I’ve used up enough space here. PETA has never been a bastion of honesty.
DearRachel,
1. “delicious-yet-scary-looking steak” the perfect Man food! You get to prove your bravery by staring it down, and then get to feast on tasty meats. Most excellent. I am not sure it was what PETA had in mind.
2. Taking money from PETA: why not? Take more! I’d like to find a way to let every person who donated money to PETA know that The Supreme One received a fraction of their donation. Probably freak them out.
3. Ads? You got ads? I just mentally block them out, I guess. If you’re going to start loading up on ads to increase revenue, I hear that ads featuring beautiful women in skimpy clothes bring in a lot. Jest sayin.
4. Grimmy said: “Making capitalism my bitch” sounds interestingly kinky, in a straight to dvd sort of way. Next thing you know, you’ll be putting halter tops on dogs or something.
v/r
mike
IIRC, that line about “making capitalism my bitch” was originally one of Rupert’s– pretty much the one that caught him our glorious Rachl Lukis:
Rachl: “How do you feel about capitalism?”
Rupert: “I love it, and I plan to make it my bitch as soon as I finish my MBA.”
I’ve always liked that story, but I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic at heart. :)
Well, those factory farms have provided me with means to earn a living for the past 29 yrs. Try and feed a country of 300 million without ’em. It’s bad enough that the meat industry is moving to centralized processing, streamlining the process, and de-skilling the trade. PETA wants to put me out of work completely. Truth be told, PETA feels that any animal in captivity is better off dead. Your dogs included. I won’t be clicking on any PETA ads. Think about it-PETA would “liberate” your animals-and kill them.
You go on and make cash from this site. I don’t care where it comes from. I’d be happy to take PETA’s money
Hey Rachel,
I just hit you ad for “guy stuff” , not bad, not bad at all.
I do hate the meat picture though. Don’t move it on my account, but still, it makes me hungry.
Either I love you (platonic I assure you as I have The Perfect Wife) or you used your Jedi mind trick on me. When you told me to click on the ads, I clicked on all of them. I can’t think of PETA without turd sandwiches and giant douches. That is a top five South Park episode. The baby platypus?/human begging for death said it all for me about PETA.
Oh, yeah – the only problem I have with the PETA ad here is that to me, the steak is indistinct enough to make it look like a bloody turd, so it’s pretty unappetizing.
That said, I’m full on planning to get one of the bunnies that are hanging out in my yard later this year, and making rabbit stew. I would cook the groundhog that lives under the barn, but I have too many ingrained prejudices against it from my mother, who thinks they are filthy.
I meant to add my comments last night.
I would never click on the PETA ad…simply out of principle. I can’t stand them. But I love that you took their money. =D
It’s your blog and you can do what you want with it. I generally ignore ads but if they are doggy related you might get me to click. =) I think it’s awesome that you make money with your blog. I appreciate the hard work you put into it and love reading it daily, even if I don’t comment daily.
So put up ads and make some money!!!
Oh my gosh…I just noticed an ad to fight global warming. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Take their money too. Love it!
and pilfered from one of my favorite bumper stickers – “If we aren’t supposed to eat animals – why are they made of meat?”
Seriously – my uncle has a dairy farm (and is part of the Upstate Dairy company). Those cows aren’t suffering. (Not that I clicked on the link – PETA pisses me off)
They feast in the fields all day then are herded into a clean barn – much like the one linked above. It doesn’t hurt them – it doesn’t take all that long – and then they are released to go hang out again in the fields. Not a bad life for a cow.
You can tell all your potential advertisers in your monthly marketing meetings that I do click through. But not PETA. After their bastard offspring the ALF trashed my neighbor’s house twice and planted a fake bomb on her porch, I’m done with the “animals more important than people–even if it means people should die” mantra.
That having been said, I think Sunny is more important than some people.
Over the weekend we had some fine elk steaks on the bar-b. I need to re-fill the freezer this year so I’m already shooting my bow.
As far as I care you can dress this site up like a NASCAR racer. It might look really cool… but then I’m all jacked up on Mountain Dew.
Rachel,
By all means, ADVERTISE!
And don’t be afraid to do paid posts or put ads in posts. As long as there is a general disclaimer that ads are just ads and not editorial content, GO FOR IT.
Capitalism is a great thing, and if you can keep your rants and doggy goodness going because of ads, then I support you enthusiastically.
And… I would absolutely appreciate it if you shared in some future posts your tips for making more money with a blog. Share the wealth!
PS, speaking of sharing the wealth, remember always that accepting $200 from PETA not only makes you $200 richer, but makes then $200 poorer, and I doubt that they will ever get $200 worth of quality advertising by reaching out to your readers, who mostly view animals as walking bags of tasty meat. Capitalism is a great, great thing…
Actually, you can put up a free ad… it would be FUNNY to user your offer code to run a free ad for the shirt directly under the PETA ad. After all, it would be “fair and balanced…”
Heh.
another t-shirt that I would wear:
animals are walking bags of tasty meat!
Thanks Gullyborg!!!
Hey, money is money.
That said, I need to figure out how to get a BlogAds.com sponsorship from one of my fellow webloggers out here… Stupid “we don’t let you sign up, just get referred” website…
Rachel, you sporting a paid ad for PETA reminds me of a t-shirt I saw recently. It’s the “iconic” image of Che Guevera, and below the picture are the words:
This Tee-shirt Brought To You By Capitalism.
Also, Che has a little dollar sign on his beret. :-D
Regarding ad blocking:
I have Adblock Plus installed, but I removed the default filters. Now, any time I get hit with a particularly annoying Flash ad, or something that takes forever to load, I add a block for that specific type of ad from that specific server.
Interestingly enough, one of those is blocking the ad at the bottom of this page. (But not the stuff in the sidebar, I’m seeing all that! Mmmmm… steak…)
Gaaah!
Just saw this, whatever you do, don’t stop Blogging!
What a senseless waste of human life that would be.