Advertising (rant)

[gekko]

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

[DeeBye]

Wow, are you me? I have my TV, internet, and wireless phone service all through Rogers. I also visit mapleleafs.com all the time (5-1 win over Tampa tonight w00t!).

I hate those kind of ads too. They are sneaky ways of stuffing junk mail under my front door.

edit: and Harry Neale is NEVER annoying :angry:

[gekko]

Wow, are you me?  I have my TV, internet, and wireless phone service all through Rogers.  I also visit mapleleafs.com all the time (5-1 win over Tampa tonight w00t!).

I hate those kind of ads too.  They are sneaky ways of stuffing junk mail under my front door.

edit: and Harry Neale is NEVER annoying  :angry:
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You're not the only canadian here at the LL, deebye (just the most famous, of course).

gekko

[--Pete]

Hi,

These companies need to learn that pissing the customer off is not a good strategy.
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Amen to that. You've reminded me of a little event of a few years ago. It was shortly after the USA national 'do not call' list went into effect. As you may know, many groups were except from that list, including political candidates. I got a call from a campaign worker soliciting my vote. I listened to the spiel, and then replied to the effect that the need for a 'do not call' list showed that the American public was sick and tired of spam calls. I pointed out that any political candidate with the intelligence of a wood louse would realize that mood and attitude and avoid spam calls. And I asked for the name of their opponent, to make it easier for me to vote. For some reason, the spammer hung up without comment :)

Pissing off the customer, the voter, the contributor is indeed not a good strategy.

--Pete

[Rhydderch Hael]

I thought the image of the door-to-door salesman shoving his foot in the door still existed in the public psyche.

I, for one, am not surprised by this.

Then again I, for one, have the memories of a cantankerous commissionaire from the 1920s embedded in my head. [VOICE=Muttering]Stupid mad scientist and his stupid brain-switching machine that don't stupid work for more than three seconds...[/VOICE]