Did the above banner ad really show up side-by-side with the rather gruesome story on CNN.com about severed feet washing up on shore in British Columbia? I haven't been able to verify it with a few dozen page refreshes, but CNN does periodically insert 728x90 contextual ads in that slot, and it has sparked quite a discussion over on Reddit about contextual advertising (as well as links to plenty of rather humorous, obviously fake similar ad placements).
"I was apprehensive at first re: the validity of the actual screen shot as I didn't think that CNN would serve contextual advertising against their "/crime" section. Brands rarely, if ever, want to be affiliated with negative stories and images—especially the way these specific ads are targeted—but I went and performed my due diligence (surfing the site extensively, loading, reloading, re-reloading, etc), checking many / most sections of the sites, and, alas, they are serving 728's on all pages (when pertinent). It's plausible to assume that this screen shot is real."
Of course, this is sort of accounted for when you buy contextual ads through AdSense or one of dozens of other providers. You can prevent your ads from showing up on certain sites, block out certain keywords, and even target by location. Additionally, contextual ads generally have a lower eCPM than search advertising or brand advertising that is sold directly. But it would seem that there is little way for anyone to devise a system to eliminate situations like the PutYourFeetUp example from happening. And, average consumers don't care about all of that marketing babble – they just see a horribly insulting advertisement and in turn adjust their perceptions of the brands involved.