If Allen Ginsberg Had Written Pay-Per-Click Ads

March 1, 2008 |

THIS IS GREAT stuff… One of the things I do to keep things fresh and creative is to read and learn from sources outside of the search industry. It’s easy to get bogged down with the vast number of good (and bad) search and internet marketing articles on Sphinn so that is why making a conscious effort to read on and off-line publications like Industry Week, Good, Fast Company, Quality Progress & Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. The great thing about reading publications like these is that ultimately I find some search marketing related article usually written from an outside of industry perspective. Some times these articles are insightful, other time I just shake my head. And then every once in a while you come across something like the following ‘List‘ on McSweeney’s in reference to pay-per-click ads that just makes me smile.

For context, I have been a huge fan, for many moons, of author David Eggers and the McSweeney’s family of ventures including, Believer Magazine, Wolphin and 826 Valencia. I have never met the man but I am involved with a project called WaitingRoom Magazine which he is an advisory member of. It’s this type of written and visual creativity that McSweeney’s is known for that helps me balance the daily routine of search engine marketing controlled chaos.

So yesterday at the office we were trading emails around names for our conference rooms based on all kinds of wacky themes. I was familiar with the Lists section on McSweeney’s and decided to take a look there for inspiration and low and behold I came across the following List by Russell Bradbury-Carlin titled “If Allen Ginsberg Had Written Pay-Per-Click Ads”. Bingo! I should also note that I am a fan of the Beat Generation writers, I’ve been to City Lights, had an Irish Coffee at Vesuvio Cafe, spent some time in Lowell when I lived in Massachusetts and share the same last name with Kerouac’s mother. Finding this list was one of those times that my world collide and I just have to smile. From a creative perspective the following ads are pure Ginsberg, but from a technical perspective they don’t have a chance in hell of passing Google editorial. Here are couple of my favorites.

America, I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing
America two dollars and twenty-seven cents.
Cheap tixs to Europe and the Far East.

Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness!
Ashcans and unobtainable dollars!
Save on bulk boxes of Swiffers at the Marketplace.

In My Hungry Fatigue, and Shopping for Images,
I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
Try Phedra, the true slimming alternative.

For the rest of the list check it out, straight from the fridge.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!