Surprisingly aggressive marketing from Google

I love all things Google. I really do. If only more companies would follow a “don’t be evil” philosophy. So, it was surprising when I encountered a surprisingly aggressive sign-up strategy for Google Offers, Google’s daily-deal email service (the Google version of Groupon).

I was on the NYT site, and saw this in-body ad:

I was curious, so I clicked on it, which led me to here:

I clicked NO (which I circled red so you can see it easier). I already am signed up to too many of those daily deals. I’m not using them and I’ve been going through the process of un-subbing. So, imagine my surprise five minutes later when I check my inbox.

I didn’t sign up for this. I very clearly clicked on the NO button.

I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk this off to a bug, but if it’s not a bug, then shame on somebody. Tisk Tisk.