Is there a way to block/ban certain adverts?

[KickAssAngel]

Right now I'm getting adverts for men's underwear, with close-ups of their groins being flashed at me from the sidebar.

Other times I've had 'adult' clothing adverts - again with close-ups - popping up.

I'm a 50 year old woman who is monumentally disinterested in male underwear or nipple tassles.

Also - I'm a teacher. Sometimes I have MN open on a tab when I'm at work (I keep a lot of tabs open ALL the time). Luckily, I haven't YET made the mistake of clicking on MN as I project something in front of a class, but the possibility is there. I wouldn't want them to see the barely clothed close-ups of intimate body parts that are currently annoying the hell out of me.

fwiw, no amount of groin pics will make me buy a certain brand of underwear.

Is there anything I can do to block these ads?

What have you been shopping for lately or searching for online? The ads will be relevant to your search history.

Clear your cache and cookies they will stop.

Use an ad blocker?

Believe me, both in RL and online, I am NOT looking for men's underwear OR crotchless panties. Not even normal, comfy for an older and larger lady underwear.

These ads have been appearing for several months. DH did buy some socks at M&S a couple of weeks ago, but the ads were coming up before that. We paid for them with cash, so not even linked to a CC, and our phones had data turned off.

I have cleaned cookies since they first appeared, but the buggers won't go!

Sorry to hear this, OP - how annoying! Can you please tell how you're accessing Mumsnet - which device and browser you're using, and whether you're on the desktop site or the app?

Once we have that information, we can forward it to our ad team to have a look. Screenshots of the offending ads would also be marvellous too, so we can see what you're seeing

Hopefully we can find out what's happening asap and get it sorted for you so you can access MN at work without fear again.

Thanks so much.

It's when I'm on my laptop, using Chrome.

I'm in the US btw, so these are American brands.

I've just cleared my cookies (again) and currently I'm getting ads for men's aftershave. That doesn't bother me - but why on earth does the internet think I'm a man? I've come out of ALL my accounts, and closed every window, then just opened MN and signed in.

btw - I don't mind being a man as far as ads go - it's the pictures that are borderline porn that bother me. Abercrombie & Fitch are tame in comparison.

I can’t believe you would leave mn open on a school computer. When I taught (11-18) I would never have used the school PC for mn at all.

You're assuming that the school provides the computer ...
Sometimes I browse MN at home, then it's still there when I open my laptop up at work in the morning. I often have many tabs open, across a couple of windows, so don't always notice, and just carry on with my work.

I never have accidentally opened it to subject a class to crotch-shots, but I'd rather they never appear on my computer.

Still getting very male-centric ads, but luckily no underwear or adult fancy dress for now.

I know I’m not addressing the point of your thread, but I’m just really surprised you’d have personal stuff open on a computer you were using with students.

Hi there OP,

Next time you get the ads come up, could you please get the clickstring for us? You can find this by switching off the internet, clicking on the ad, and copying and pasting the link.

Lily - I almost didn't bother to put that because I knew someone would stick on that.

I sometimes don't notice that it's open among a sea of tabs. Not that I deliberately show off MN. It's an oversight that happens occasionally. I'm not going to NEVER go on MN because my school doesn't give me a computer, am I? I also have my personal gmail account on a tab, maybe some things I've been browsing etc. Most of the time I keep one window for personal things (and minimize it), and another for work, so the personal stuff isn't obvious.

MN I will send any pics as soon as they appear. Having cleaned my cookies yesterday it all seems quite clean atm. I'm even getting female-biased, mom-friendly ads. I cannot think what I ever go on/near to make some algorithm think I want to see that stuff. I'm more vanilla than ice-cream when it comes to internet searches.

I sometimes don't notice that it's open among a sea of tabs

Perhaps the world is split between those of us who are happy to 20+ tabs permanently open, and those of us who find 2 too many

Download an adblocker.

Good lord OP

Just take some personal responsibility and remember to close your own tabs.