Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

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SougonNaTakumi(imported)
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:59 am

Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

Post by SougonNaTakumi(imported) »

I've been seeing a lot of PlayPickle.com ads in boards having to do with Pokémon, and, being curious, I decided to click up the site and see what it was (I know, I'm just that gullible sometimes XD). As soon as I noticed that it wanted me to download a adware installer um, an installer for their "ad-supported toolbar", I decided there was probably something devious about it and I should report the ad here. Sure enough, a couple of places on Google claimed that it infected your computer with some kind of program that brought up a bunch of popup ads in addition to providing strange unlicensed games about Nintendo characters. Should I maybe report this to Zetaboards instead?

Here are the main two I've seen:

Image

Image

(Original URL of the first for my own records: http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/imgad?id=CM2Q_KP0m4eiXxDYBRhaMgiry5EmKwu8Ug)
RacieB
Posts: 871
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

Post by RacieB »

Yeah, we've got no control over the ads whatsoever, it'd be better to bring it up with Zeta (on a sidenote, could you rehost the screenshot or banner or whatever? my adblock is blocking it... :F)
SougonNaTakumi(imported)
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:59 am

Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

Post by SougonNaTakumi(imported) »

I contacted Google through their AdWords page about it (they were both Google ads) and they claim they react to mail like that within a business day or so... that'll probably be more effective if they answer.

Edit: Wow, I already got confirmation e-mails on both! That's probably a good sign.
RacieB
Posts: 871
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

Post by RacieB »

Hmm, my husband also just pointed out that the Nidorina on the second banner appears to belong to Aqua Bunny.
SougonNaTakumi(imported)
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:59 am

Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

Post by SougonNaTakumi(imported) »

That really doesn't surprise me. XD
It looked a little too good to be drawn by the advertisers, especially considering how badly edited in that picture of Satoshi/Ash and Pikachu looks in the second one.

I'm curious: has anyone actually been gullible enough to play this game?
Blaziken257
Posts: 983
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:52 am

Re: Beware of the PlayPickle ads!

Post by Blaziken257 »

This is the first time that I have heard of this particular ad, though hearing about these devious ads doesn't surprise me one bit. I've seen other similar devious ads that say nothing but Download/Play Now, which are common on file sharing sites, but I've seen them here too... I hope Google will do something about the Pokémon ads soon, if they haven't done so already.

(Also, where have I heard of Aqua Bunny before? The name rings a bell to me...)
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