Right... that's not going to trick us into advertising on Reddit again, which is one of the biggest wastes of ad dollars out there. You couldn't sell Makeup to the /r/makeup forum. They just don't click on ads, let alone buy anything. We joked about how you're probably better off advertising on a gay porn blog. I actually tried it. And I got more sales than on Reddit. I've tried 3 separate times and all three were wastes, I've read articles about others trying and they found it to be a waste as well.
They're doing this to try to get their (often stereotyped as snarky and condescending) users to click on ads for the "good of the world". It won't matter because their audience's clicks don't convert into sales.
I sometimes browse the frontpage of reddit and I feel like the best way to advertise there is by making "real" submissions.
I've seen quite a lot of highly upvoted submissions like "look what my girlfriend got me!" linking to a picture of some "geeky" product. Maybe I'm a bit cynical but I can't help thinking 80% of them are just marketing in disguise.
Also, you don't even have to pay to submit those stories. I'm not sure how reddit could solve this problem.
They're doing this to try to get their (often stereotyped as snarky and condescending) users to click on ads for the "good of the world". It won't matter because their audience's clicks don't convert into sales.