# Why do they still bother with pop-up ads? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354 **Category:** Factual Questions **Created:** [February 11, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354 "2009-02-11T12:15:26Z") **Posts on this page:** 7 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/1 "2009-02-11T12:15:26Z")
All browsers nowadays block popups by default, yet lots of sites use them. I use Firefox and when visiting sites like IMDB or some news sites, the “popup blocked” warning comes on. And I never open these popups because 99,999% of the time they are useless junk. Why then do they still bother using popups? Are there still enough people with older generation browsers that cannot block them to justify this practice? ---
### Author: ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/2 "2009-02-11T12:40:04Z")
I don’t know the answer to this question, but I’d like to see them eliminated on TV - the popups that promote forthcoming progams while another program is running, ---
### Author: ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/3 "2009-02-11T13:17:03Z")
Why do they still send spam? Why do Nigerian princes still need your help moving millions? Because it works. There are always idiots who fall for this stuff. ---
### Author: ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/4 "2009-02-11T13:20:33Z")
Because the sort of people they are interested in is the same sort of people that hasn’t updated or changed their browsers since 1997. ---
### Author: ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/5 "2009-02-11T13:29:58Z")
The only good answer is that it works well enough to justify the expense. ---
### Author: ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/6 "2009-02-11T13:43:52Z")
Our company got rid of them, but they were undeniably effective. And it’s not always because they’re idiots, there are plenty of legit products being advertised that way. ---
### Author: ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville) #### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-bother-with-pop-up-ads/485354/7 "2009-02-11T14:03:09Z")
> [@BarnOwl](#): > > I don’t know the answer to this question, but I’d like to see them > eliminated on TV - the popups that promote forthcoming progams while > another program is running, They do that because of people like me, who fast-forward through commercials with our Tivos.