CNN reports that the person who created pop-up ads on the internet has said “I’m sorry” for his creation.
Citing an interview with the Atlantic, the ads were originally created with good intentions. Specifically, a car maker did not want its banner ad running on a web page with sexual content. So to solve this, an ad was created that opened in its own window.
3 Things We Wonder If People Are Thinking When They View Pop-Up Ads
1. “This ad for a truck that popped up while I was looking at porn must be totally unrelated to the porn I was accidentally looking at. Which is good to know, because I am totally opposed to porn and would be totally opposed to this truck company. Now how can I close this pop-up window that is blocking my view of the browser showing porn, which I also need to close?”
2. “Thank you all for coming to the 1996 conference on internet advertising. Great news! We have a good-intentioned way to allow your ads to support the porn industry. Let’s show a Powerpoint presentation to explain how this works.”
3. “Welcome to the meeting, marketing team. Are we all in agreement that throwing money at annoying pop-up ads to support any content, sight-unseen, no matter how poorly-written, is good for our brand, and also awesome for the quality of content on the internet? Great, now that’s settled, how can we succumb to pressure from special interest groups about some of the more controversial shows we advertise on CBS?”
Sometimes WordPress puts ads beneath this sentence, which would be ironic if it happens to you while reading this article.
