amazon-gone-wild
For a while there my old TiVo Series 2 thought I was gay. Despite a preponderance of war movies, skinemax, late night cop dramas, somehow, TiVo “got the wrong idea.” It took months of unnaturally testosterone-heavy action flick recording to convince him otherwise.
A few years ago, when Amazon.com‘s recommendation engine wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as it is today, I ordered my mother a book from Oprah’s Book Club. I felt the repercussions of that purchase fro months. Amazon did not have, and to my knowledge still doesn’t have, an option to tell it that the purchase was FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
Tonight I went over to Amazon.com to check the price of the Nokia N800, a new small form factor internet tablet device, only to wonder how long it would be before the iPhone completely took what little business Nokia has in this market. ($359 in case you’re wondering.) On my homepage I found the strangest thing. Amazon says that “Customers with similar searches also purchased:”
…Afros. Yes, Lily Allen’s CD (the CLEAN version!), and afros. Looks to me like afro wigs, maybe afro picks, and possibly other afro products. Of course, I am too frightened to click through for fear that Amazon will think it got this right.
So, I did what anyone else might do, I clicked on “See more of my browsing history,” and I found the following manly items at the top of the list:
The Nokia N800, a book about Grilled Cheese sandwiches (God, I love grilled cheeses), a UV water purifier, and the DVD of Breach.
So what the fuck is leading Amazon to believe I’d like an afro wig? Is it possible, literally, that there are a bunch of people interested in cheese sandwiches, shitty consumer electronics, and suspense DVDs ALSO really like afro wigs?!
I just don’t understand. Mr. Bezos, can you explain?
UPDATE: Much further down my list of viewed items, I found a listing for this animated movie:
Samuel L. Jackson as Afro Samurai. I REALLY want to see this movie. So I guess this is the cause. But wait, isn’t this even stranger? Are people really buying Afro Samurai AND afro wigs so they can act it out? is that possible? WTF is wrong with people? WTF is wrong with Amazon.com?
I’m going to bed.
Chris, It feels like forever since I browsed through your site!! And boy am I glad I did today!!
The imagery of some skinny comic nerd jumping aroung imitating Afro Samurai in his undies with a towel draped over his shoulders as a make-shift cape is enough to brighten my ENTIRE miserable day!!
BTW:~ There ain’t nothing better than Grilled Cheese!!!
But let’s be honest, where else would you go to shop for an Afro wig?? I couldn’t think of anywhere else that wouldn’t cause major embarrassment!!
I felt the repercussions of that purchase FRO months.
I’d like to understand more about collaborative filtering, but I suspect that it doesn’t work very well around the edges. Or maybe the programmers goose the likelihood that fringe products will show up to make the results more interesting. As your blog demonstrates, your interests are very eclectic, which make them inherently more difficult to model and predict than if you were a diehard fan of Hardy Boy mysteries.
I wonder if enough occurrences of “fro” might call up a contextual ad in the same category …