It just annoys me because I’m not going to order it and I’m abstaining from alcohol. But there’s always some “special deals” being advertised by UberEats on alcohol, as well as meat, dairy and eggs. It’s like they’re really sleazy and desperate to hawk these products.

93 points

Just wait until they get caught targeting people in recovery for these liquor ads at the optimal time for them to cave and make an order. You know that shit’s going to be a scandal sometime in the next few years.

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7 points

My buddy’s dad is an alcoholic with a ton of health issues. He had a stroke a while back and had to quit drinking as a result. He can’t drive anymore or even really leave the house. Well, his wife recently passed away, and someone showed him door dash and Uber eats was a thing to help him get food delivered. He saw they had alcohol on it, and now he regularly gets beer delivered. Like, the guy’s old AF n lost his wife, so who am I to judge him wanting to get liquored up, but he probably wouldn’t be drinking right now if this all happened 10 years ago.

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5 points

My uncle was an alcoholic his while life, but in the last few years, alcohol delivery services were what killed him.

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55 points

Often, when bringing up privacy, people say they are ok with some tracking because they’ll get more relevant ads

But it’s so common to not be able to block products you don’t want, be it alcohol, meat products, dairy, gambling/casino games, podcasts from people you don’t want to hear from

It’s not about getting more relevant ads, it’s about figuring out what they can best sell you. Sometimes that lines up with what you want, but you can get that benefit without targeted ads too

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24 points
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Deleted by creator
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1 point

I wonder if you can ban all those nazi ads youtube all of a sudden thinks i’m into even though I watch nothing but leftist content.

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30 points
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Good starting place for an ADA class action lawsuit.

Addiction is covered.

US regulatory institutions lack teeth these last 40 years. They’re the agency that should castrate such an issue, IMO.

You’re disabled with addiction tendencies? Okay, not lawful to feed you adverts for your addictions.

Why is this not the case? Is our government disinterested in our welfare?

The moment that’s true, we should be lighting our tax funded institutions on fire. Straight up. We paid for that shit. And the folks handling that money are doing fuck all to support our generosity.

Edit: people in here mistaking “good starting place for” with “A fucking slam dunk grand slam for,” But that’s cool, y’all do you.

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1 point
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The ADA doesn’t have anything to do with marketing/advertising. Yes, people struggling with addiction are a protected class. How does that apply here?

Can we sue people who make Souls games because they’re too hard for people with one hand? of course not. Should trivia games be banned because some people have intellectual disabilities? Can you ban my advertisement for my trivia night because of that? No. The ADA isn’t that wide

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4 points
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Yes that’s true. That specifically why I said what I said.

It’s a good starting place. For a class action lawsuit.

It’s not a slam dunk, but it’s a good starting place. And the ADA is an agency that could facilitate such an endeavor.

How do you think sidewalks become mandated to have handicap accessible ramps at all crosswalks?

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1 point

The ADA is a law, not an agency. And the law mandated those ramps. It’s all in the law, which hasn’t been updated since it was written 30 years ago

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2 points
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The ADA covers usability and accessibility of publicly-accessible spaces (even those that are privately-owned) by people with disabilities, it’s why wheelchair ramps and accessible parking spaces aren’t optional.

Courts have historically not cared much if it’s an established legal precedent “but on the internet” - just being online doesn’t mean it’s not covered by existing law (it might not be, but only if being online makes substantial enough difference). If someone with a disability like addiction can’t use a publicly-accessible service (even if it’s privately-owned) because the operators of that service aren’t providing required accommodation for their disability, that could be argued quite convincingly to fall squarely under the ADA’s authority.

It could also be argued that it’s discriminatory to show known alcoholics booze ads, like a department store putting the wheelchair access ramp in the loading bay in the back of the building or blocking accessible parking spots with shopping carts.

For a practical example, if the customers at a grocery block all the accessible spots with carts, someone who needs one could sue the grocery for not keeping the spots clear. Their argument would be that while the grocery didn’t put the carts there, they also failed to keep any accessible spots clear of obstruction as they are required to. Deliberately advertising booze to alcoholics would be like video evidence of the grocery employees putting the carts in the accessible spots, it could lead to hefty punitive damages or fines as well.

Edit: Please take note of the word “deliberately” above. For a sure cash judgement with punitive components, the plaintiffs would have to show that the advertising was based on data showing the person has a drinking problem; for a win that would just get things changed, the argument would be there should be toggles to manually disable certain classes of advertisement.

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-10 points

Good starting place for an ADA class action lawsuit.

Oi vey 🙄. The first step is not a lawsuit. Uber probably don’t even know they’re doing this as they will create marketing campaigns at a high level to target a mass audience rather than specifically trying to offend you. That’s just not how these campaigns work.

A good starting point would be to reach out to their customer team and highlight the issue and see if they can figure out a solution.

What’s with the straight to the courts ambulance chasing mentality people have rather than trying to reach out and find a solution?

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5 points

Large corporate entities like Uber don’t listen until it significantly affects their bottom line. A program to allow customers to tailor advertisements would involve many thousands of dollars to implement and maintain, and the net result would be less customer engagement with their marketing programs.

The math just doesn’t add up until Uber faces a significant cost for not implementing it.

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-5 points

This sounds like you’ve never worked in the industry or have any insight into this topic. Large companies like Uber absolutely do listen to customer feedback. And if you want it to hit their bottom line you can protest the use of their app until they change, make it a hash tag on social media and drive change by voting with your feet. You don’t need to whip out the lawyers. Lord above, not everything needs to be solved with litigation.

A program to allow customers to tailor advertisements

We’re not talking about tailoring advertising. OP stated these are recommendations based on the what he is buying at the time. These are offers. Have you never seen a two for one aisle at your local supermarket? Or special offers on alcohol? It’s not a random advert popping up asking them to buy stuff whilst booking a cab. At the simplest level we’re talking about a setting that says, don’t upsell or market me alcohol (because I may be recovering) or meat (because I may be vegan). That would actually be a selling point for their app and something they could put a positive spin on.

I genuinely think you don’t understand the problem space here by what your saying or the solutions you’re offering.

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3 points

Uber doesn’t even care and straight up steals from you if there’s missing food in your order. I doubt minimum wage support employee #7608 is going to care or even have the ability to pass on that information.

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15 points
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  • meat
  • dairy
  • eggs
  • alcohol

these are large industries with a lot of muscle. I’m sure the deal they struck with Uber eats doesn’t include an option to “turn off” these offers

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1 point

God if only all those industries could lose their subsidization so they can die the natural death they deserve.

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15 points

I’m just bouncing ideas off and not sure if it works like that, but maybe you can try creating a teen account and link it to your main one.

Recently I noticed there’s an option to let me link teen accounts(and other adults) under a family that lets them order but pay with the primary account.

Assuming teens won’t be able to buy alcohol, perhaps those recommendations would go away too?

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