The New Gmail Turns Old Ads Into Spam Emails
Google announced a redesign of Gmail it late May that introduced a tabbed layout with categories like “primary,” “social” and “promotions.” Curiously absent was any discussion of the ads, a feature of the service for years and targeted via the content in your inbox.
Over the last week as the redesign’s roll-out expanded, some people have seen fewer ads in their inbox while others have noticed newer ones styled as emails in the new “promotions” tab added to house marketing messages like daily deals emails and brand newsletters. Neither is an illusion.
Google has introduced new ads to Gmail that can be best described as “sponsored emails.” Aside from the fact that the ads are marked as such and colored differently from regular Gmail messages (similar to how Google distinguishes some search ads), the aesthetic of these ads — which only appear in the “promotions” tab — differ little from standard emails and function similarly, allowing users store them for later or forward to others.
