03-12-2006, 03:31 AM
First off, a disclaimer - I work in retail; I understand the value of advertisement, I understand the nature of advertisement, I understand why ads work the way they do.
However.
When I go to sign in at rogers.com to pay my cell phone bill, and I see a "fake" pop up window (i.e. a pop up built into the main window, so that it does not register as a pop up but is directly in my way), I get a little upset. If I'm choosing the block pop up windows, I'm doing so for a reason. I'm intelligent enough to recognize that your stupid site is trying to bombard me with pop ups, and I'm smart enough to take the steps to avoid them. Now, if I've gone to the trouble of disabling pop ups, why oh why would you think my reaction to your giving me one anyways be anything but favourable? I went out of my way to block your stupid advertisement - I'm not going to be receptive if you cram it in my face anyways!
Or another example. I go to mapleleafs.com to check the links to articles about the leafs, when the annoying harry neale pops up in the corner and starts vocally reminding me about watching Leafs TV or some such. So I, annoyed to begin with at yet another form of bypassing my decision to block such pop up ads, click on the little X under mr. neale, much as I have done for the past few months while browsing the site. Much to my surprise, mr. neale no longer goes away without a fuss, as he once did. A new browser window opens, taking me to a site I certainly did not ask about.
As I said at the begining of this post, I understand the nature of advertising - by definition it only works if it is in your face enough to be noticable. But when a company delibrately flouts my desires and the steps I have taken, that doesn't just annoy me like most advertising does. It truly enrages me. In the case of my cell phone, it is something I pass on to my regional rep (I also sell rogers phones at work), it is something I pass on to my customers when they ask me about rogers customer service (I may make commission, but I'm still honest), and it's something I keep in mind when considering upgrading or renewing my service.
I'm not expecting advertising to go away. But honestly, figure it out - if the advertising goes explicitly against my expressed desire to STAY AWAY, it's not going to convince me to buy. These companies need to learn that pissing the customer off is not a good strategy.
gekko
However.
When I go to sign in at rogers.com to pay my cell phone bill, and I see a "fake" pop up window (i.e. a pop up built into the main window, so that it does not register as a pop up but is directly in my way), I get a little upset. If I'm choosing the block pop up windows, I'm doing so for a reason. I'm intelligent enough to recognize that your stupid site is trying to bombard me with pop ups, and I'm smart enough to take the steps to avoid them. Now, if I've gone to the trouble of disabling pop ups, why oh why would you think my reaction to your giving me one anyways be anything but favourable? I went out of my way to block your stupid advertisement - I'm not going to be receptive if you cram it in my face anyways!
Or another example. I go to mapleleafs.com to check the links to articles about the leafs, when the annoying harry neale pops up in the corner and starts vocally reminding me about watching Leafs TV or some such. So I, annoyed to begin with at yet another form of bypassing my decision to block such pop up ads, click on the little X under mr. neale, much as I have done for the past few months while browsing the site. Much to my surprise, mr. neale no longer goes away without a fuss, as he once did. A new browser window opens, taking me to a site I certainly did not ask about.
As I said at the begining of this post, I understand the nature of advertising - by definition it only works if it is in your face enough to be noticable. But when a company delibrately flouts my desires and the steps I have taken, that doesn't just annoy me like most advertising does. It truly enrages me. In the case of my cell phone, it is something I pass on to my regional rep (I also sell rogers phones at work), it is something I pass on to my customers when they ask me about rogers customer service (I may make commission, but I'm still honest), and it's something I keep in mind when considering upgrading or renewing my service.
I'm not expecting advertising to go away. But honestly, figure it out - if the advertising goes explicitly against my expressed desire to STAY AWAY, it's not going to convince me to buy. These companies need to learn that pissing the customer off is not a good strategy.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"