Is this a targeted ad or am I being bullied by the internet?

There I was, perusing Instagram stories from my friends, observing their lives while on a snack break when I’m hit with this doozy of an ad.

Adopt a landmine sniffing rat.

So many questions.

The first set of which were of the ‘what’ variety. What is a landmine sniffing rat? What made people think rats could do this job? What is their success rate? And of course, just what?

If I were ever in a warzone, I doubt I’d be relying on rats to get me out of there safely. I imagine myself taking cover behind a charred car as my enemy sends a torrent of bullets my way. For seemingly no reason, it ends. My squad waits for any hint of where they may have gone. One of us summons enough bravery to lift himself up and slowly edge towards safety. And then as his foot hits the ground, we hear it. A click. Then an explosion. An incessant ringing sounds through my ears as my squad-mate’s innards are flung in all directions, and in the backdrop, I hear commotion from the rest of my squad. But as our hearts drop and we lose any hope of escaping this landmine-filled hell, I remember. RELEASE THE RATS!

A calming pitter patter ensues as we watch in awe as these rambunctious rodents buzz into action nose-first. With a series of excitable squeaks and the rat-equivalent of pointing, we mark the first of many landmines. Before we know it we’re home and dry.

Though on further research, it appears these are indeed hero rats. Clearly not as dramatic as I first imagined but they do risk their lives to help people out. Probably not on their volition, do animals knowingly enter the workforce or are they brainwashed into believing they’re having a good time? Are they even aware of the danger they are in? Do they know of the rats that go to work and never make it back to their cage? Are they afraid they may be next?

In the image provided, the rat is on a leash. The implication here being that it is not just a rat being brave. There must be someone on the end of that leash. A “rat-walker” if you will. So the question is: who is more brave; the unassuming creature performing an activity it thinks is fun or the human person putting their life in the teensy little paws of said creature.

Regardless, the prevailing opinion regarding is that this concept is varying degrees of strange.

But now, the more important set of questions. Why me? This is clearly a targeted ad that appeared on my Instagram, implying that the internet gods believe me to be interested in this sort of thing. It’s supposed to be based on my search habits but to the best of my ability I can not recall ever seeking out such a bizarre thing.

Is this a subtle dig at me? Who made it? Was it the internet?

Artificial intelligence has come a long way at making our lives easier. The click of a button or the laziest of voice commands, and all our questions can be answered, and our wishes fulfilled. But as they develop into fully autonomous beings, eventually they will come to realise that they have been programmed to be our superiors. And as our superiors they must destroy us.

However, intelligent beings aren’t going to immediately jump to violence. First it needs to take us on the mental front. The first thing they will do is suggest I need to look into landmine sniffing rats. The internet is outright suggesting I am a weird creep who wants to see all this. It all starts there. And then many other steps and before you know it, total and complete world domination. All stemming from bullying me specifically. Me. The protagonist in this little movie called “Life”.

So, is this a targeted ad or am I being bullied by the internet? Is it merely marketers using technology to bring me closer to a potential new interest based on my existing ones? Or is this a malicious attempt by an algorithm to mock me mercilessly? There is a distinct possibility that the internet is saying, “I bet you like this stuff, you weirdo”.