Advertisements running amok

Drilling back into an old post I hit upon New Kerala dot com, online edition from India. Interesting, I thought. Let's see how the news reported from another vantage point. Click on a story, and voila! Here is the text with a string of hypertexed words. Gee, pretty impressive, no? Hyperlinks bringing more details that couldn't fit into the lede.

Wrong.

The hyperlinks are for ads, some of which have nothing more than a vocabulary word in common with the story. And in the case of disaster stories, a jarring and inappropriate advertisement coming across as tacky as a phone solicitation at a wake.

Two die, 46 sickened at retirement home

VANCOUVER, Wash. : Health officials are trying to determine what caused the death of two people and the illness of 46 others at a retirement home in Vancouver, Wash., this week.The outbreak on an assisted living wing of the Cascade Inn retirement center began Monday when eight people were transported to the hospital, a report in the Columbian said Friday. One 91-year-old victim died Wednesday and another, age unknown, died Thursday. Of those sickened, 31 were residents and 15 staff.There is no indication as yet that the vomiting, nausea and diarrhea were triggered by a food-borne illness but the dining area in the affected wing of the center has been closed and the center quarantined. Family and friends of the residents were told to stay away. The manager of the county's infectious disease program, Marni Storey, said the residents' symptoms are similar to those in norovirus outbreaks that hit two local schools last fall."An illness cluster is not unusual at a retirement facility," Storey added.She said it can take up to a week before the state laboratory can determine the cause of the outbreak. In the meantime, staff members are observing several measures to prevent spread of the illness.

The links are apt to change, so I will copy them here for future reference...

Illness -- The Cause and Cure of Human Illness can be purchased on line from Ehret Literature Publishing Company for only $14.95 (US) Selling a book.

retirement home -- US News and World Report link. Magazine advertisement selling a host of books and articles about retirement.

assisted living -- Link to Visiplex, selling a wireless call system for use in nursing homes and retirement living settings.

Just the word retirement -- link to financial advisor...When you work with an Ameriprise financial advisor, you will work together to define your dreams then develop and monitor a tailoredfinancial plan that will help you achieve your dreams and adjust to life's changes.

This may be the best one. the word diarrhea is a link selling medicine. Do YOU feel disabled by unpleasant constipation or troublesome diarrhea and no one seems to know why? Chances are you too have Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
If you have tried everything else and nothing has worked for you, now it is time to ask your doctor if all-natural Digestrol™ is right for you.

And the word dining links to an ad for JC Penney!

Now THAT is what I call getting a lot of bang for your buck, even if you weren't looking for it.