Google's philosophy...

is to provide users with an efficient and reliable tool that gives results instantly. Their ten core principles outline their mission in more detail, and a few of them specifically address how they practice advertising. The ads are located discretely on the side as a sort of list under "Sponsored Links" and only the ads that are relevant to your search are displayed. To test this out, I went to Google and typed in "cookies", and sure enough, there on the right side of the page was a neat little list of all the cookie companies I might be interested in, including names like "Cheryl&Co." and "David's Cookies." Then I typed in "chocolate" and got chocolate brands like Godiva and Ghirardelli. It's a little spooky how the ads are perfectly tailored to my searches..

I think it's pretty nifty how the ads are listed right there for me. They don't intrude my own searches and don't scream for my attention as other ads might do. Unconsciously, as consumers see these ads they might associate Google's authority with the quality of the product and assume that the higher up they are on the list, the better they are. What's more, the option to look and possibly purchase the product is only a credit card and few mouse clicks away. This is also part of Google's philosophy: to make life easier by providing a fast and easy method to get what you're looking for. Over the next several years, consumers might take to purchasing more things online to save time and energy. Who knows, we might even have the option of buying our groceries online. Google and many other internet sites have already made the task of choosing and buying easier for us by narrowing down our options and suggesting certain products. All we have to do is decide whether we want it or not. Or, we can ignore them completely.