A cartoon butt clenching a bar of soap has invaded my online ads

Enlarge / The state of New York says that this guy is the “assman,” not me. Show him the butt ads! (credit: Seinfeld)

According to my research, everyone has a butt.

But that doesn’t mean, when I’m imbibing my morning cuppa and reading up on the recent presidential debate, that I want to see an ad showing an illustrated derrière with a bar of soap clenched firmly between its two ripe cheeks.

Yet there it was, a riotous rump residing right in the middle of a New York Times article this week, causing me to reflect on just how far the Gray Lady has stooped to pick up those ad dollars lying in the gutter.