FastClick, Pop Serving Ad Networks Should Be Boycotted
Enough of this shit. Ad network FastClick, along with all other ad networks that continue to defy people's wishes by circumventing pop up blockers should be boycotted for their pop up delivery practices. Not only are pop ups annoying but, if you look at the one pictured (click for actual size), it is clearly deceptive and all about trickery. What respectable ad network would even consider allowing such an advertiser to use its network?. Also, shame on Dribbleglass, the site at which this pop up popped, for allowing pop ups to be served. To be fair, all pops are not always associated with the site being visited but most are.
Any media buyer out there who is currently buying pops should be shamed as well. Any advertiser that engages in the use of pops should be boycotted to death. Any site that serves pops should pack it in, leaving only a 404 page behind. Are we finished with this crap yet?
Comments
Totally agree. I cannot believe CNN.com still sells popup ads.
but Steve, they work... hard not to buy them if they work...
I too am a big fan of not using pop ups, and I have argued this at seminars and conventions. And then a guy stands upa nd says, hey but they work.
So I thought about it a lot, and Ihate to admit it, but there are some pops on a couple of my sites. And indeed they do work, to a degree.
The real question is, does your site need to maintain a regular readership? If so a few extra sales adding to a loss of permanent readership, then it is not worth it.
I think pop ups can be useful to deliver additonal infformation, and if they truly serve to enhance the user eperience by offering something within the real of what they are already surfing, then they may be okay.
Most people have pop up blockers anyways, which annoys me, since I can't use pop ups to add information about site pages now - because parts of the web site would be missed totally.
I think pop ups can also get people into trouble. Say surfing at work or when the wifey comes in, you click to close a page, and then an ad pops up for diamonds or porn, and then who have really hurt end user experience, which is not a good thing.
So I say use them only when neccessary, and with all considerations involved.
Just using a pop up to sell unrelated ads is a really bad idea.
my 2 cents..
Steve Media
The "but they work" excuse is tired. Everything shouldn't be done just becasue it works and makes money. A little human respect thrown into the mix is not a bad thing.
I've barely seen a popup ad since switching to Firefox, but I have to say I'm genuinely surprised to hear that they still work. I can believe that people are being tricked into clicking on them, but are they really selling product?
Right on.
Spam works too and who do we associate spam with? Pop-ups and Pop-unders are the spam of browsing. Most of the time they are done in a fashion to fool people into clicking and buying (ala the example above). As a publisher you should simply not allow or work with networks that use this type of method.
If you don't like pop-ups, I would recommend that you stop visiting sites that use them. If you don't like TV commercials that so rudely interrupt your TV viewing, stop watching network TV.
And where, Rockwell, might the master list of sites who serve pops he so I can refer to it prior to visiting the sites?
I think it's also worth noting that this particular popup is worse than most because if you go to close it, it actually has a confirm dialog box (rather than an internet popup that looks like one) that pops up and asks if you are sure. I loathe this popup more than any other I have ever encountered and would not buy this product if I was dying and it would save my life.
is there an online registery of advertisers who use pop-ups (e.g. Netflix) so that those of us who chose to can boycott them?
The only ad network I have ever had success with was ViralyticsMedia.com. They are more of a site repping company, but if you can get in with them they are pretty solid. Customer support sucks, but they pay well.