If it wasn’t part of my job, I’d completely ignore online banner advertisements like these, but here we are…

Example #1:

This one showed up on Weather.com today (without the arrows and giant NO, obviously; those are my additions).

Now, that’s a pretty reputable website. I mean, generally you look at your city’s weather page and it says SNOW, and you look out the window and hey presto, it’s actually snowing. But the site is just littered with ads like this. You’re not getting a gigantic TV for 60 bucks, and you’re not getting car insurance for $9, unless they mean per day. Don’t click.

Example #2:

This one came from CNN.com, another reputable website. Nobody is selling an iPad for $14. Nobody. Apple doesn’t discount. Know why? They don’t have to. They could come out with a $7,500 Macbook tomorrow, in this economy, and it would be a hit with their core users.

Once again, just ignore these ads. Do what I would do if I wasn’t paying attention to this junk for the purpose of writing about it. (I’d also ignore that noise about “penny stock rockets” and “Royal Caribbean whatever”, too.)