Google emails you adverts in new Gmail design

Google is now emailing you adverts. Google is using the new tabbed design of Gmail to test ads mixed in with your messages in the new Promotions tab.

Google has just introduced a new look for the Gmail inbox, separating messages into tabs called Primary, Social and Promotions. Primary is the regular inbox; Social is for witterings, twitterings and updates on social networks; and Promotions is for marketing offers and deals.

But that's not all that appears in the Promotions tab. Twitter user Antonio Gulli spotted a new type of advert, apparently being tested by Google on a small number of Gmail users: adverts that are emailed to you.

These paid-for-placement adverts appear as new messages in amongst your other marketing emails. You can tell the difference between the ad mails and your regular marketing messages by a shaded background and the word 'ad' beneath the sender's name. Fortunately, Gmail learns which ads you don't want to see -- click on Dismiss and you won't receive that promotion again.

Star the admail and it's saved to your inbox, or you can forward it to a friend.

You can't turn off the admail messages -- you can only turn off the promotions tab. So if you like having offers and the like in a separate tab to your real messages, you're stuck with Google's sponsored marketing missives.

Alternatively, the nuclear option is to turn tabs off completely and go back to the old inbox.

Is Google right to email you adverts? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Image: Antonio Gulli