AdSpotter

Inspiration

With the rise of Amazon shopping, users often struggle to distinguish between sponsored ads and organic products in search results. This inspired us to create a solution that helps shoppers easily identify paid promotions, improving the overall shopping experience.

What it does

AdSpotter is a Chrome extension that detects and highlights sponsored products in real time on Amazon.com. It automatically scans the page, identifies ads, and visually marks them with a distinct customer defined border and background, making it easier for users to distinguish sponsored products from organic search results.

How we built it

We built the extension using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The extension uses subtle cues (like the "Sponsored" label) to identify ads, then applies CSS styles to highlight them visually. We also implemented a setup page for users to adjust border and background color.

Challenges we ran into

One major challenge was ensuring that the extension works across different page layouts and handles dynamic content like infinite scrolling and lazy-loaded images. Additionally, we had to account for variations in how Amazon labels sponsored products, which required careful matching of different patterns.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully built a lightweight and fast extension that works seamlessly in real-time, highlighting sponsored products without impacting the user experience. The extension is easy to use and provides immediate value to shoppers by making sponsored ads visually distinct.

What's next for AdSpotter

Future enhancements for the extension include adding features such as togglable detection settings and per-page sponsored product tracking. We also plan to expand support to international Amazon sites and other platforms like Reddit and Coupang. Finally, to adapt to constantly changing website structures and new ad formats and ensure the extension remains effective, we aim to implement more automated ad detection methods, potentially using AI.