Can ads be trusted?

The Internet has created an easy and effective way for people to advertise products. Companies spend tremendous amounts of money marketing over the web. I would like to think that most of these ads are legitimate. However like any other opportunity to make money there are always people trying to “beat the system.” Unfortunately the people being taken advantage of are kids, only a year or two younger than I am. High scholars trying to figure out the best fit for them to spend the next four years.

This made me think, can you really trust the ads you see every time you navigate to a new site? This article makes me think not. Even the colleges can’t contain the false advertisement of their own schools. Don’t get me wrong I don’t expect them to be able too. The Internet is too big; it would be impossible to monitor each ad. On the other hand something needs to be done about this problem. Jerry Slavonia said, “I think the Department of Education has done a better job cleaning up search results than Google has.” Since the ads are posted on Google I think that needs to change. Google makes tons of money by companies advertising on their site. They have rules about advertisements but obviously need to do a better job enforcing them. If schools continue to see their advertisements being used to advertise other colleges they wont continue to post the ads. That would hurt Google, the companies advertising, as well as students. Searching for colleges on the Internet is a great way to learn about schools. Only if you’re getting what you search for. Kids need to be skeptical of the ads, and search engines they use when looking at colleges. This article is a great example how the Internet is very convenient but not always very accurate.