Blogads

When I was in high school, I wrote and recorded radio advertising for my dad's furniture and appliance store and later, when I worked for the local AM radio station, did so for other station customers as well.  I sold many an ad for my old high school newspaper and yearbook.  And as a lawyer, I've written promotional materials designed to attract clients.

But I still have decidedly mixed feelings about offering advertising on this blog.  On the one hand, I'm a committed capitalist and rational profit maximizer, and I'd like to at least defray the expenses of running this blog.  On the other hand, I've enjoyed the clean, free feeling of having neither advertising nor tip-jar on this blog for the past year.  On the third hand, since I started the blog, I've participated in the Amazon.com "Associates Program," which generates a very modest rebate if someone happens to click through on a book or DVD I've linked and then purchase it from Amazon.com.  (Which brings to mind the old joke about the English gentleman who asked the lady if she'd sleep with him for £10 million, and you know how that one ends.)

As I started looking into the Blogads.com program, however — and quite frankly as I've looked at the number of blogs I respect and read regularly who do accept advertising — the temptation to at least experiment with it became overwhelming.  And so I'm experimenting, with a "patron blogad" near the top right of BeldarBlog's sidebar and another spot down a bit lower.  To my surprise, I've found a taker, for two weeks, for the patron spot — Newsmax.com, which is using the space to advertise a promotion for Ann Coulter's new book. 

Blogads allows each blog writer the unlimited ability to reject proposed ads for any reason whatsoever.  I'm not sure where I'll end up drawing the line, but there is a line.  Still, at least my starting inclination is to be very reluctant to reject a proposed advertiser on political or content-based grounds.  Instead, I intend to rely upon the "competitive marketplace of products and ideas" and my readers' common-sense abilities to explore anything they're interested in, and to ignore whatever they'd prefer to ignore. 

For example, my blogospheric friend Prof. Glenn Reynolds currently has ads running on InstaPundit for a fine art museum (whose advertisements have included some tasteful female nude images); The Club for Growth; something called "All the President's Pets"; a pro-Bush website called "Gay Patriot"; George Soros; and something called "Investigate Tom DeLay."  I'm inclined to think I'd accept any of those, too — although I emphatically disagree with George Soros' political views, for example, and I'm frankly alarmed by the amount of money he's throwing into this year's political campaigns.  Actually, I suppose I'd like to dilute some of that money by juxtaposing his ads with my own generally conservative blogging.  By contrast, Ms. Coulter is certainly easy enough on the eyes if you like thin blonde women (and I do!); she has impressive academic credentials as a lawyer; she's sometimes quite funny and occasionally very perceptive; and her books, columns, and TV appearances have gained her a devoted conservative following.  But I also recognize that her caustic wit and outspoken (and sometimes tasteless or offensive) opinions have also given her what the pollsters refer to as "high negatives." 

Would I take money from Kerry-Edwards 2004?  Depending on the content of the ad, I suppose I probably would.  After all, I've linked to Sen. Kerry's campaign website dozens of times, almost always in the process of making arguments why he ought not be elected.  By all means, if his campaign can come up with arguments in their advertisements that are more persuasive than those I write on my blog, then let democracy reign.

So let it here be recorded that by accepting an ad, I am not necessarily endorsing the product, nor am I  expressing my agreement with or even approval of the positions or opinions expressed therein.  And if you see me running an ad that you think is immoral or depraved or otherwise scandalous, by all means email me to let me know why you think that — I might end up agreeing.