We accept internet ads as a fact of life, but whereas once we were bombarded with ads for weight-loss pills and dating websites—or was that only me? Lately they have gotten a lot better at knowing what I actually want.
I have a passing familiarity with why this is happening: e-commerce websites use cookies to track our online activity and then pay other websites to make those things pop up for us when we’re just trying to read about Rihanna’s latest nail art—or is that only me also?
It’s annoying, it’s creepy, and I also sort of like it because it gives me an excuse to go back and look at the things I want. The things I want are not the same as the things I think I should want. Nor are they the same as the things I actually end up purchasing, because I tend to obsess over flamboyant and impractical pieces that I just can’t afford to replace every six months when they become slightly less trendy. Also, some of this stuff is just not good. (See: space rooster below.)
Many of these are purses I’ve decided not to get, but they still stalk me to this day.
Exhibit A: Metallic Gucci
These polarizing Gucci bags. This colorway is great, or I love this bag in red and green. When I first saw this bag on PurseBlog I hated it. I even went to Gucci’s website to hate-look at it. But then something happened: I kept remembering this purse, almost as if it were popping up on every website I visited for no apparent reason. Because that’s what happened. And now I want it badly. Sigh.
Exhibit B: All things Judith Leiber
I would never actually get a Judith Leiber bag for many reasons—mainly because I have absolutely nowhere to wear them, but for some reason these sparkly suckers pop up often in my writing. They’re actually pretty to look at so I don’t mind, but the ads will not get me this time. Hah.
Exhibit C: Fendi Mania Everything
Ever since I first saw Fendi’s collaboration with Fila I knew I loved it, but like many of the other purses that follow me around the internet, it took me awhile to become truly obsessed. I cannot get this purse out of my head, and every single time I see it, I love it more. Fendi Mania indeed.
Exhibit D: Furla Candy Bags
The Furla Candy bags are a secret guilty pleasure of mine. I know they’re not nice in the traditional sense of the word, but I look at them often, and the adware reminds me of my embarrassing weakness for PVC purses. I actually own a tiny lime yellow Candy bag with silver sequins, but when I saw this one studded with ridiculous shiny metallic hearts, I was immediately in love. This is truly a bag my eight-year-old self would have loved, and if it keeps following me for much longer, I might have to pull the trigger.
Exhibit E: Off-White
I’ve wanted an Off-White purse for quite some time, but deep in my heart I know that these styles won’t stand the test of time. I continue to hold off, but it’s getting harder when I am haunted each day with variations of the bags I want in various styles.
Exhibit F: This Spacey D&G Bag
Ok this one really takes me back. For months I put this Dolce & Gabbana Sicily with a space rooster print into my shopping cart, then quickly took it out. Every day I resolved to finally pull the trigger, and then I changed my mind. Even a year later I was getting ads for this bag. I probably made the right decision, but I still wonder what my life would be like if I could walk around with a space rooster by my side. I guess I’ll never know now: it’s sold out.
Exhibit G: Bag Straps
Shoulder straps seem quite overpriced for what you get, but I went through a phase of looking at them constantly when I thought I might like one to revitalize some of my black purses. After I realized I’d probably never find an Off-White shoulder strap, I descended down a dark corridor of eBay to find extremely cheap Off-White camera straps that might have been fake and could have possibly doubled as shoulder straps. To this day, eBay has the audacity to email me to let me know that the camera strap is still available. Hard pass, and also I don’t recall giving eBay my email address?
Please tell me this is happening to other people too: which bags follow you around on the internet?
