Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 18th Aug 2010 14:02 UTC
We're still in the slow news period, so let's talk about something we discussed before: blocking advertisements on websites. Up until, well, today, I didn't block ads - not because of some ethical objection or whatever, but simply because I couldn't be bothered to setup AdBlock. Today, after taking a closer look at some of the websites I frequent, I decided to take the plunge and install AdBlock on all my machines. The following set of screenshots should pretty much explain why.
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Member since:
2006-10-08
So, according to your list, you would like advertisement that
* take up less than 25% of the width of the screen,
* are not animated,
* don't try to steal information from you,
* don't cause something to pop up on the screen, and
* don't block any content for even a millisecond.
But what would that be, then? Real content? :-)
Honestly: All the things you described are essential (any maybe neccessary) elements of advertising - without them, it would not work. Gaining attention is the main goal. Obtaining information is a means to get the right "attention inductor" for every person. And it needs to be annoying, exclusive, aggressive.
Totally agree here, except that I may say that I experience less advertising than the average user as I have removed "Flash" (as the main carrier method of advertising) from my system.
Keep in mind: "Flash" is today what animated GIFs were in the past, enriched with sound and forced interactivity. :-)
Also agree here. Sometimes, maybe in 1 / 1000 cases, there really might be something that is interesting enough to really deserve exclusive attention - and maybe even lead to an actual product buy.