Naughty or Nice? Underhand advertising?
A quick search of Google, and the Chinese language search engine, Baidu, revealed that several famous car makers have gotten in on text advertising alongside the search results.
Buick seems to be the biggest culprit here – when searching for other marques, such as Roewe, Ford, Toyota etc, a small Chinese advert appears alongside the search results advertising Buicks alternatives.
Although to be fair, Buick arent the only ones playing this game, we also found Cadillac, and JAC playing the same game. We didnt try all the famous names, but have a try yourself, and see what you get. It will work better if you are in China using Google, as the ads appear to be regional and display based on your IP address.
Click the below thumbnails to see bigger versions!
Jac Roewe Advert:
Cadillac BMW Advert:
Is the Chinese motor industry so cut throat that international suppliers have to resort to this kind of advertising?
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We have adv of this kind everywhere not just for the car industry but for every search on every subject.
I wonder if it is very effective as I tend to skip the ad portion when I search Google.