# Are popups effective marketing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-popups-effective-marketing/269501>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 16, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-popups-effective-marketing/269501 "2004-10-16T01:04:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-popups-effective-marketing/269501/61 "2004-10-25T18:39:52Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> In the long run (1996 to present) popups DO work. They provide a high ROI for the advertiser and a good return for the web publisher.

In the long run, up until the Civil War, slavery DID work. Slaves provided a high ROI for the investor.

I’m stretching with that one, I know, but the concept is the same.

Just because something has been shown to work over a short period of time (1996 to present) does not mean that it is foolproof and will continue forever. See my previous post.

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**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-popups-effective-marketing/269501/62 "2004-10-25T20:07:41Z")

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> [@PecanSandy](#):
>
> \>\>\>\>  
> Google didn’t decide to add one to their toolbar on a whim  
> \>\>\>\>
> 
> Certainly not. Google decided to add one a few months before they launched their own advertising program which directly competed with popups for advertising dollars.

I really like the way you pick and choose which specific points you answer. What about Microsoft? Why did Microsoft decide to put a popup blocker in SP2?

> [@PecanSandy](#):
>
> Saying “popups don’t work!” is no different than saying “brussels sprouts don’t work!” because you don’t like brussels sprouts. The fact that you do not like them does not make them less nutritious. It just means you don’t like them.

You mischaracterize what I’ve said. Where did I say “popups don’t work”? I said that advertisers are shooting themselves in the foot. Popups work **compared to banner ads** , and I’ve never disputed that. You’ve said that popups don’t negatively impact a website’s traffic, and I’ll accept that.

But what I’ve been saying all along, and what you still have not addressed directly, is that popups engender a negative feeling **towards the products, services, and companies being advertised** in a not-insignificant segment of the potential market.

When I brought up the possibility of a backlash earlier in this thread, you responded by saying that there is no dropoff in website traffic, and I let it go at that. But measuring website traffic is **not** how you would determine if there is a backlash. You would have to survey web surfers, potential customers of the company **doing the advertising** and see if their opinions of that company have changed negatively as a result of the popups. See, I (and likely others) don’t hold it against the website for using popups, I hold it against the company doing the advertising (just like with TV commercials; when I see a TV commercial that annoys me greatly, I don’t stop watching the show that it’s sponsoring, I boycott the product being advertised).

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