Bad Ad Placement: Citibank and Groupon

The Internet has long faced a problem. Consumer attention continues to shift to it, yet ad dollars from brands have lagged. The big reason for this is the Web’s fragmentation. That causes high transaction costs and a feeling from advertisers their ads will appear in bad places. Unfortunately, bad placements still occur. Each week we’ll feature a particularly unfortunate placement. This week’s winner is Citibank and Groupon, both of which were fortunate enough to appear with (now former) Rep. Anthony Weiner’s lewd photos on TMZ.com. Probably not the placement a brand like Citibank wants.

See a bad placement? Email us.

More in Media

The Rundown: Google has drawn its AI payment lines — and publishers’ leverage is narrow

For publishers trying to navigate AI licensing, the message was blunt: Google is willing to pay for access, but not for training – and it remains unwilling to define AI Overviews as a compensable use of journalism.

search referral traffic for publishers

Media Briefing: Google’s latest core update a reminder that pageviews can’t remain the primary metric

Google’s latest core update signals pageviews can no longer be the primary metric, favoring intent-solving publishers over scale.

After an oversaturation of AI-generated content, creators’ authenticity and ‘messiness’ are in high demand

Content creators and brand marketing specialists on how 2026 will be the year creator authenticity becomes even more crucial in the face of rampant AI-generated “slop” flooding social media platforms.