In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, we watch as the titular character braces to run over a guard with a steamroller. But what is quickly revealed is that this is the slowest moving steamroller in history. And that’s the joke. The guard could easily step out of the way and avoid the impending squish. And yet, he doesn’t. This feels like how many publishers have reacted to the impending death of the cookie.
We know it’s coming. Google says it’s going to get rid of the cookie at some point, though that date has changed a number of times. There are proposed solutions to allow for the same sort of targeting without relying on cookies, but nothing that has been seriously adopted. And so, the steamroller keeps coming with publishers hoping and waiting.