The great (and sometimes annoying) thing about the internet is that most web services attempt to tailor their ads to you. Reader Defunctfrenzy, though, found that he actually got better ads by switching his gender in his account settings.

A few months ago I changed my Spotify account to make it think I was female (got sick and tired of those condescending Lynx adverts). Since then, the adverts have got a lot less annoying. If you aren't already female or you're not impersonating one, you should try it, you're missing a trick. If you're female, all they seem to do is advertise albums and Spotify features.


Complaints about the modern-day advertising's gender stereotyping aside, this could provide a nice change of pace for some. Obviously, not every service is devoid of "female-oriented" advertisements like Spotify, but it's worth a shot. Plus, you may find that your ads still become less intrusive. After switching my gender to Female, Pandora showed me nothing but birth control ads, which, while not exactly applicable to me, were a whole lot less annoying than the over-animated, window-usurping Bud Light ads I was getting before. Try it out for yourself with your favorite web service, and let us know how it goes in the comments!

[via #tips]