Marketing Terms.com defines the word Spam as “Inappropriate commercial message of extremely low value.” They also say that the definition is vague because everybody has their own definition for it. But I believe we can all agree that spam is an unsolicited form of advertisement.
Unsolicited, meaning you didn’t ask for it.
There are filters in your e-mail to catch such things, but they don’t always catch them. Spammers are finding new ways to beat the old system, and the same goes for pop-up advertisements.
My question is, would you invest in a system to flag websites that support pop-up/pop-under advertisements? A system that would update your computer with a listing of these websites so that you can either choose to block advertisements or block the website all together?
Before you start thinking it’s unfair to do so, take a minute to think about how it’s no different than the spam e-mail you delete from your inbox and Spam folder everyday. Pop-up advertising may be their source of revenue, but did you stop to think that maybe spam e-mail may be that person’s source of revenue as well?
Pop-up blockers only do so much. The advertisements I am talking about can potentially harm, freeze, even crash your computer. To visit the sites that incorporate such measures so that they can earn an extra few cents per visitor is to say to that webmaster, I support your unsolicited advertisements and I support your delivery method. And by saying that you support their spam advertisements, you are also saying you support spam overall. Simply by doing nothing.
There are plenty of ways to advertise non-intrusively. Advertisements that blend right into the html of the page itself without interrupting the site content. And yet, companies still offer pop-up and pop-under advertising as a means to convey a message.
Only when somebody does something about this will they finally realize pop-up and pop-under advertising is wrong.
It would only take one website to introduce a list, compiled and kept up to date by the people who visit it, to black list websites and companies that incorporate such means. But not just one person would be able to get the attention of millions; millions of people would have to get the attention of one person.
Can you imagine an internet without pop-up advertisements? Surfing the web without having to wonder if your software is up to date to catch the next pop-up ad? Browsing the internet without fear that the next pop-up ad will crash your session?
I can. The word that comes to mind?
Spectacular.