I think spammers should change tactics. ditch popups, advertise your product on the intended website. That way a) you don’t piss anyone off, and b) everyone sees your add.
Same with TV advertising. Ad breaks should be replaced with ad banners and/or more product-placement and program sponsoring. The ad-break situation on British SKY tv is now way way beyond a joke - after watching like 7 minutes of ads (each one of which you have already seen many many times before) your program starts. Then after about two minutes - MORE ADS!
ANd don’t even think about switching over to avoid said ads - THE AD BREAKS ARE SYNCHRONISED! so all at once about 80% of the channels are showing ads. and the 20% or so that are not, are showing boring crap.
WHen I am watching sky I don’t fucking remember the programs. I feel like I have been watching adverts all day.
It’s the sheer mindless principle of it - the idea that the way a product is advertised can possibly influence my judgement - it really really pisses me off. It reeks of pure evil - it’s persuasion - trying to make something that might be good or might be crap seem like it’s the best thing on earth, it’s deceptive, it’s dishonest.
It’s one of the few things I hate with a passion. This was going to be a MPSIMS thread but I got carried away so I am going to post it in the pit instead.
Lobsang
Amen. I buy Lux barsoap today because I really appreciate the many hours of entertainment they made possible with Cecil B. DeMille’s Lux Radio Theatre. (And it’s good soap.) I would never consider buying Lever2000, on the other hand, because the TV ads have been a thorn in my side since I saw them.
Unobtrusive ads from 60 years ago – still generating grateful revenue today.
Irritating, interruptive ads – program me to loathe the product.
(Same company, BTW.)
I’d probably buy Blue Coal if it was still on the market.
ROMA Wine, (R-O-M-A), on the other hand, I doubt would ever pass my lips, even though I’m glad they sponsored Suspense for all those years. It just sounded a bit shite. (They used to have an “etiquette expert” recommend that you serve it with every meal – even if you don’t have “fancy glasses,” regular water glasses are okay. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.)
“This program was made possible by” is the only ad copy that works for me. Gratitude for sponsoring something I value, and more gratitude for not feeling it’s necessary to insult my intelligence.
What we need to do is upend the entire economic system. Instead of people manufacturing products they figure they can sell, then going to a lot of trouble to convince us we should buy them, we should set it up so people advertise for the currently nonexistent products for which they would pay money, and the manufacturers respond to the ads by producing requested products.