That Awkward Moment When Your Best Seller is ‘Inflatable Avocado’—Thanks Google AI!

jax5027
Aug 5
5 min read

Let me set the scene. You’re an e-commerce business specialising in trendy trainers, artisan kitchenware, or perhaps exclusive beard oils for miniature schnauzers. Whatever your niche, you have a solid product feed, tight inventory, and a well-oiled Google Ads machine humming in the background. You check your sales dashboard with the casual confidence of a seasoned pro—and right there at the top, your new hero SKU: the Inflatable Avocado Pool Float.

No, you didn’t misread. This wasn’t an A/B test gone rogue or a creative intern’s prank. Google AI, in its infinite wisdom and utterly inscrutable logic, has minted you as the UK’s leading purveyor of novelty avocado floaties. Move over, DTC disruptors—this is “ecom PPC” in the age of AI.

Welcome to modern digital advertising, where your top seller pops up on your feed like an out-of-season meme: “Inflatable Avocado—BEST. CONVERSION. EVER.” Cheers, Google.

The Unlikely Hero of Your Product Feed

Let’s quickly dissect what exactly this top-selling marvel is, for those who haven’t yet experienced the sheer commercial might of vegetable-shaped inflatables:

It’s massive (165x130 cm), has drink holders (fruit-shaped, obviously), and claims it’ll float up to 400 lbs—so you and all your emotional baggage can lounge in peace.[Image: image_1]
Made from “eco-friendly, odourless PVC,” so you can promote it as vegan AND sustainable if you squint hard enough.
Its primary marketing angle is “fun for all ages” and “must-have for avocado-obsessed consumers.” Thank you, millennials and Instagram vegans—our PMax overlords salute you.

Oh, and guess what—it’s durable, easy to clean, and as aesthetically pleasing as any giant avocado could be. Toss in three fruit-shaped drink holders (two lemons and a watermelon, in case you were wondering) and you’ve got yourself a conversation-starter at any garden party.

All-in, it’s the kind of product that would (in the pre-AI age) have been lost six clicks deep in your “Novelty” collection, a gentle in-joke among your warehouse pickers. But now, thanks to Google’s hyper-optimised algorithms, it’s an e-commerce hero.

How Did This Even Happen? AKA: Why Is My Ads Spend Going on Pool Toys?

You’re not alone. Here at JudeLuxe, we hear some version of this every other week:

“Why is PMax funnelling budget into rubber ducks?”
“Why is my ROAS tanking while I sell heated hamster leashes in Finland?”
“Why are we… huge in Latvia?”

A big part of the answer lies in Performance Max and the underlying Google AI mechanisms. In theory, PMax chases profitable conversions. In practice? It’s more like a talent show where products you forgot you stocked get a standing ovation from Google’s mysterious, resourceful, occasionally chaotic traffic stew.

Why does the inflatable avocado work so well?

Visual Appeal: Bright, memeable, and screaming “share me on TikTok”—the stuff Google ad units dream about at night.
Wide Comp Appeal: Pool floats cross markets: parents, teens, vegans, fitness bros, irony-lovers, yacht owners, and everyone else stuck at a seagull-infested municipal lido.
Hidden Demand: Nobody asks for an avocado pool float, but everyone apparently wants one after their fourth sponsored Instagram scroll.

AI finds the path of least resistance to conversion—regardless of whether it fits your brand story, your carefully managed stock, or, you know, logic.

When Your Product Feed Becomes Your Frenemy

Your product feed: you thought it was all about accuracy, seasonal updates, and merchant best practice. But in the Performance Max world, it’s also an audition for Most Ridiculous Bestseller.

Did you leave that inflatable avocado in your seasonal SKU list, just for giggles?
Was it a test product to check variant feeds?
Maybe you just followed every “feed hygiene” guide and bulk-uploaded everything, hoping Google would definitely understand your hero products from your “weird uncle’s gift” section.

PMax will gleefully scrape your feed, spot a whiff of engagement, and boom: budget allocation. And those heavily-optimised Shopping images you spent weeks perfecting for your £180 sneakers? Sorry, it’s the avocado’s time to shine.

The Satire of Success: “PPC, But Make It Absurdist Art”

Let’s be blunt, this is the point where PPC advertising stops being a science and slides into Dadaist comedy.

You’re analysing auction insights and LTV curves for high margin categories, but your attribution chart’s shaped like an avocado.
“Avocado” becomes your fifth most-used keyword (above “free delivery” and “UK”).
Your social team gets tagged in memes about fruit-based inflatables.
Your logistics partner starts shipping more avocados than actual groceries.

We’re not saying it’s bad, just…intense. Like letting your dog pick the playlist at a house party and discovering he’s really into Scandinavian techno.

Honest Questions for the Algorithm Enthusiasts

Want a little self-diagnosis? Ask yourself:

Have you noticed click spikes for anything not remotely related to your main line?
Does Google suggest Smart Shopping for SKUs that are “quirky,” “giftable,” or vaguely inflatable?
Has a “novelty” item leapt suddenly from page 9 of your feed to the first “Top Performer” slot on month-end reports?
Have you secretly started researching avocado pool float supply chains, just to keep up?

If the answer to any of these is “yes,” congratulations—you are living in the glorious future of intentless, AI-driven creative commerce.

What (If Anything) Can You Do About It?

Let’s get pragmatic before you sink too deep into the pool-float-shaped quicksand. A couple of sanity checks:

Feed Segmentation: Get aggressive with your custom labels. If you must have wild and wacky in your feed, partition them with iron-clad labelling and campaign exclusions.
Account Structure: Don’t let Performance Max run the entire shop without human input. Break out your must-sell products into controlled, strategic campaigns.
Negative Keywords & Exclusions: Lean hard into exclusions, both at feed and campaign level. Don’t let the algorithm fool you into thinking “quirky” always equals “profitable.”
Cross-reference with Manual Campaigns: Sometimes the manual Shopping ad that never sold an avocado in its life is all the warning you need before letting PMax “optimise” for you.
Keep Supply & Forecasting Tight: We’ve seen shops get caught out—selling hundreds of unexpected novelties, only for supplier lead-times to trigger negative reviews and stockouts.

Of course, at JudeLuxe, we see this as the fun of the job—wrangling high-converting chaos into e-commerce gold, one novelty pool float at a time. Want to know the latest ways to tame (or harness) Performance Max and its product-picking antics? Check out our blog for smarter e-commerce PPC moves.

Final Thoughts: If You Can’t Beat the Avocado, Ride the Avocado

Let’s be honest—you’ll never totally outmanoeuvre Google’s penchant for viral novelties. Play the game smart, know where your profitable margins really are, but if all else fails, slap a “Best-Seller!” badge on your inflatable avocado and ride those memes all the way to the bank. Who knows—your next accidental hero might even go one better.

If you need professional help (the PPC kind, not therapy—although no judgement), reach out to us at JudeLuxe. We get results, no matter what fruit Google’s flavour of the week is.

Want more e-commerce PPC satire, survival tips, and breakdowns of all that makes Google Ads a wild ride? Subscribe to the JudeLuxe blog—we promise all insights, no avocado aftertaste.