Alex wrote:
I think it also depends on what country you live in.
Yup. I live in Sweden and I never get the McDonald's or cereal places (or any other sponsor-type places) when I'm on Neo. Probably because Sweden has uber-strict rules when it comes to marketing to children. It's been that way for me in the last few years. But when I visit Texas to be with my parents under the summer, I always suddenly see those commercialized spots on the map.
I never really thought about it before, but I'm fairly certain the banner ads over here are considered illegal by Swedish law. They still show despite the rest of the places being blocked. My guess is the answer lies in what the sponsors sign up for. General Mills for example wouldn't spend money paying for advertising to here because we don't really have GM cereals available, so it would be a waste. We have plenty of McDonald's, but knowing the rules on how marketing to kids are they possibly decided not to pay for Sweden's ISP's to view them knowing one ticked off parent could go and ruin things with the media like the Australian Neo fiasco vs. McDonalds.
All a guess really, but I can verify your location determines if those places show. *shrug*