Would you dare to help me with an internet spying experiment?

Perhaps I’m paranoid. But it seems like the Google ads are really being intrusive these days. And they seem to be connected to other things beyond Google searches.

I never go to McDonalds. But my niece is staying with me and I’ve treated her to McDonalds twice this week. Suddenly my Google ads are displaying heart burn medication. I’ve never searched for heartburn medication on the web before. I don’t suffer from heartburn.

Is there any chance that Google has access to my credit card purchase history, and thus thinks I might need heartburn medication to alleviate the curse that Ronald McDonald has cast upon me?

I challenge anyone to go to McDonalds twice in the coming week and see if your Google ads don’t start displaying Prilosec advertisements. Make sure to get the #4 QPCheese combo large with a Dr. Pepper.

Meanwhile, I’m going back to DuckDuckGo until things blow over.

Have you noticed odd Google ads showing up beyond what you’ve searched for? Can you connect those ads to any recent credit card purchases?