You&#x27;re both right, but OP is more right. Targeted plumbing ads elicit slightly higher click-through rates and purchases. Let&#x27;s say 0.12% instead of 0.1% clicks. So in the ad community&#x27;s eyes, the targeting is &quot;effective.&quot;<p>But for 99.88% of people seeing those plumbing ads -- including many folks who have already bought their sinks -- such ads are stupid distractions. The net result: there&#x27;s a big surge in the use of ad blockers, and the swamp is starting to drain.<p>Another case in point: I now follow Twitter trending reports for Yokohama, even though I live 5,000 miles away and can barely read a few characters of hiragana. It&#x27;s my primitive hack to disable the trending &quot;service.&quot; I&#x27;d rather have incomprehensible squiggles on a corner of my screen than a bunch of garbage content that&#x27;s clamoring for attention, even though it&#x27;s irrelevant to me.