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Submitted by DemosthenesI was just working on installing some updates on someone's computer where I work, and I needed to download a driver for something.
I opened up Internet Explorer and searched for the driver I wanted, found a few hits and went to one of the search result sites that appeared to be what I was looking for.
I was surprised to see two or three windows appear out of nowhere in front of the IE window in which I had been working.
Puzzled, I watched these smaller windows load, and they appeared to be
advertisements.
Then, it struck me: "These must be POPUPS!" I said.
Funny... a few years ago I started using things like
http://www.agentland.com/Download/Intelligent_Agent/303.html">Proxomitron and
http://www.opera.com">alternative browsers and popups were no longer a part of my internet browsing experience, period.
And here we are, in this day and age, and apparently popups are still present?
Seriously, people... do you honestly think that these things are doing anything for your business? Do you honestly think anyone is paying attention to them?
Most people I know that have any sense don't put up with popups for long once they run into a few of them. They go out and get a popup killer utility like the one I mentioned, or perhaps the new
http://toolbar.google.com/">Google Toolbar, and move on, forgetting like me that popups even exist.
More and more people are turning to alternative browsers as well...
http://www.opera.com">Opera is a good one, and
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/">Mozilla Firefox seems to be a popular one lately. Both of those have built-in popup controls, as well as tabbed browsing capabilities.
And for those of you that like how IE renders webpages, there's
http://www.myie2.com/html_en/download.htm">MyIE2, which adds tabs to Internet Explorer as well as tabs and skins and a number of other nice features.
My point here is, with all the tools readily available (for FREE, no less) to deal with a fairly simple annoyance, is there honestly anyone left out there that truly thinks that popups are an effective form of advertising?
Any individual that is exposed to such tactics is immediately annoyed by such things. Their response is one of two things:
1) Find a way to block them.This is what most people that I know do. Using some of the options I've already mentioned, most people familiar with the web and its annoyances deal with popups pretty much immediately. Presto! No more popups, no more problem. Hardly effective advertising when end-users don't even realize that popups exist anymore.
2) Live with it.People not bright enough to do something to stop the annoying popups will just close them and continue surfing... only to be hit with more of the same popups, then to close them and continue surfing. Eventually they start swearing and get irritated at all the aggravating windows slapping them in the face, and they start noticing that all these stupid popups seem to be coming from the same handful of companies, advertising the same few products.
Most people in this situation make note of this, vowing never to buy such products or do business with companies who consider bludgeoning end-users with endless annoying advertising tactics to be a positive way to sell their wares.
In other words, popups have two effects overall: Either people get wise to it and stop seeing them, or they get annoyed by them and despise those using them as advertising.
So I'm confused. WHY are there still popups on the web? Are there honestly still people out there so dense as to think that this will promote their products or companies with a GOOD image?
From
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35792.html">this article on TheRegister today:
Six out of ten of those quizzed said they mistrusted brands that used pop-ups to advertise their products and services.
Said Rob Stevens, director of business behaviour at Bunnyfoot: "Brands are undoubtedly committing commercial suicide by insisting on using pop-ups. The effect of such techniques goes way beyond simply annoying the user: they frustrate, they impose and they engender mistrust. Pop-ups are therefore not just a huge waste of money, they are also extremely negative for a brand."Hello! The clue phone is ringing! It's for you! The only people that are seeing your stupid ads anymore are pissed off by them, guys. So do yourselves a favour and
knock it off.
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