New search ad format that pre-populated my email address into a form

[deadsea]

I just did a Google search and saw a new ad format. I've never seen anything like this before (details whited out to make it anonymous): [i.imgur.com...]

Its an ad that has my email address pre-populated into a form field that I can submit to get information about a product sent directly to me. When I click on the "privacy" link in the ad, Google tells me: "When you submit this form, your email address will be sent to the advertiser."

Umm... No thanks Google. Is there an opt-out for this?

[Lame_Wolf]

It's been like that for months, at least. (not sure about the pre-populated part though.)

[netmeg]

It'll pre-populate if you're logged into a Google account. I use these all the time (AdWords for my clients) but I had to write and get permission; not sure if it's rolled out everywhere yet. But we've been doing for newsletter signups for about a year.

You don't need to opt out; nothing gets sent unless you click the submit button (Get Offers) on the ad.

[Str82u]

We have one advertiser doing that in our niche searches, they don't have a "real" newsletter of course but it's quite an attention grabber.

@netmeg - I have an AdWords account but don't use it often; for laziness sake, can you tell me if that costs you extra over normal clicks or is it just more effort to set up?

[netmeg]

It costs whatever you'd pay for a click. You have to provide links to your privacy policy and I think another one, I don't remember. I set it up a year ago. They take the collected email addresses and plop them in a Google doc spreadsheet, and email you when there's a new one.