September-29-03

Inconsiderate Ads

posted by Smivey

Okay, I admit it. I’m guilty of creating some of the ad banners you see on the Web. But the ads I create don’t blink four hundred times per minute or beckon you to try to click on the dancing monkey. My ads merely let you know there’s a new product or service available and give you the opportunity to check it out.

But this isn’t about any of those ads. It’s more about the way they’re starting to be delivered. The first of these nuisances is the often-hated pop-up ad. Yes, I understand that Web sites need to make a profit somehow, but these ads have become so annoying that we’ve learned to close the window before anything even loads.

Which led to the infamous pop-under ad. These aggravating little shits first pop up and then quickly hop behind your current page before you can even react. For a while, I used to try to use a keyboard command to quickly close the window, but it would almost always result in closing the wrong page, leaving only the ad there to inform me of the world’s smallest video camera.

But now that most of us have found browsers or free software that kills the pop-up ads, Web sites have had to come up with even more devious tricks. The latest I’ve noticed is having the top of the page refresh so that more than one ad can be shown to you as you read the content on the page. The only problem with this is, if you hit the back button after being on the page for about five minutes, you have to go through about twenty ads before you can get to your previous page.

So what’s the solution? Simple. Go back to the good old fashioned ad banners, and stop basing the success of an online ad on clickthroughs. No other form of advertising relies on instant feedback. And there’s a reason: It’s moronic. Ads are supposed to keep your product in the consumers mind, so that when they’re actually in the market for a spy camera, they’ll think of buying yours. That is, unless you piss everyone off with your fucking pop-under ads. Inconsiderate Ads Suck.

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  1. Glovia Said,

    I thought it was just a necessary evil. One more annoying amongst the annoyings.

  2. Smivey Said,

    Yes, ads are a necessary evil.

    And by the way, would every one stop using their Tivos to skip over the commercials? Those annoying ads are keeping your show on the air. If this habit continues, they’re just going to find more obtrusive ways to advertise, via product placement or worse. If you don’t like commercials, watch HBO.

  3. eggo Said,

    i’m sitting here designing banner ads. they suck, but they keep a roof over my head, buy drinks for the ladies and sheath my fine ass in nice jeans.

    they also pay for your lexus, smivey, so quit your whining about ads.

  4. Smivey Said,

    Damn it. Did you have to let them know I drive a Lexus? My online persona is ruined.

  5. eggo Said,

    heh. what did your online persona drive?

  6. Smivey Said,

    I don’t know. I was thinking maybe my online persona drove something cooler. Like a Volvo station wagon.

  7. Glovia Said,

    There’s something about people who drive Volvo’s. They’re nice. Like me. And they have minimal suckage. Like me. Unless they are station wagons, in which case, they suck. I wish you drove a Volvo, Smiv. Because picturing you in a Lexus is killing the online persona.

  8. Smivey Said,

    But, Glovia, it’s the coolest and least pretentious Lexus out there: the IS 300. More of a sport sedan than a luxury car. BTW, for those of you who didn’t get the joke, eggo drives a Volvo station wagon.

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