Poll: A Point on Advertisements

[Joreal]

OK, I know they're needed in order to generate revenue. I understand that placing things in the sidebar will generally get people to notice them and, on occasion, click them out of personal interest in what is being advertised. I have no problem with these whatsoever.

What I do have a problem with is advertisers thinking it's an awesome idea to throw them in your face for a full fifteen seconds before you actually get to see what you wanted. If anything, that makes me want to avoid looking into what they're advertising in the first place. That's just my personal opinion, so I wanted to see what everyone else thought of them.

As a point of reference, I mainly watch Yahtzee's ZP reviews. I just loaded one a few minutes ago and got slapped in the face with one of these, and I immediately made it a point to not visit "Fire Emblem" out of spite. While I realize that this may not be the best reasoning in the world, I view it mainly as a boycott of products for obscene advertising efforts. Thus, I am interested in what you think of this, or what you would do after viewing an advertisement like this.

1st Edit: I accidentally hit Enter before finishing the post while I was inserting vote options. Please don't vote on this before I finish making my point. Sorry.

2nd Edit: Finished the topic, and I apologize for any confusion.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Don't get me wrong, I dislike ads, but your poll is what I would expect a communist election ballot to look like.
EDIT: All fixed

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

I don't mind ones on the sides or taking up space as the game loads, but anything that stops or slows down my play time pisses me off, specially the type that pop up in the middle of the screen offering random crap I have no interest in.

 

[Joreal]

Yeah, that was an accident. I hit "Enter" instead of "Shift", and it auto-posted. I just updated the options.

 

[Ken Korda]

I hate all adverts. They're just greedy people's attempts to manipulate your mind. I understand why they exist but I really don't like the purpose for which they are created.

 

[Abedeus]

Don't get me wrong, I dislike ads, but your poll is what I would expect a communist election ballot to look like.

Who's the unquestionable leader, our supreme comrade and the only son of God himself?

A: Joseph Stalin
B: Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin
C: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин
D: იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი


Hehe, good one.

I hate ads. They are pointless, as I never listen to what they say, no matter who tries to sell the product.

 

[Joreal]

(T)he idiotic masses prefer vague ideas and facts and I think the escapist had a news article on this as well.

Really? I didn't find any NRC articles on a standard search, do you have a link handy? Or lacking that, a title?

 

[bad rider]

Some ads are cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGngcQb_0qg

Edit: don't get me wrong they are becoming vague and pointless, but nevertheless cool

 

[Teh_Doomage]

I hate them, but I know why they are used the way they are....as long as I get the option to make them disappear.

 

[Flukey]

I find that usually there's a way around most ads, and failing that you can always just ignore them until they go away, which is what I find myself doing most of the time they come up. Adverts don't influence my decisions as much as they probably want to, I'm not sure about anyone else. One thing that really annoys me though is when people put adverts on DVDs... seriously, what's the point? You pay for the DVD, and they treat you with some lovely adverts about things that will be old and possibly gone when you next fancy watching your movie again. I thought the whole idea of paying for a film on DVD was to give you unlimited access to watching your favourite films, and the fact your paying for it should surely take away the need to put adverts on, and leave you to watch your movie as you want to? Then it's even worse when they don't even let you fast forward or skip the damn things, and they go on for ages...

Sorry about the little rant, and you were probably referring to ZP or something, but I still think my point stands. I understand why adverts are used, and I do find myself actually enjoying some of them. I won't buy what they're selling unless it's something I use normally though, and I just don't see why I should pay to watch them.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

Unobtrusive amusing ads are the best kind - these are however rare.

 

[wewontdie11]

I really dislike advertising. Billboards are eye sores, they break up good TV with their crap far too often and they are plastered all over the net. If I really want or need some kind of product that badly, I will look for it myself and don't need to be told about it by some b-list celebrity every 15 minutes during Top Gear. If I do not have the urge to seek it personally, then it is not important enough to be rammed down my throat on every other page of a magazine. Ergo, at least for me, advertising is pointless and annoying.

 

[zirnitra]

the ones which annoy me most are the ones that pop up at the bottom of youtube videos, all ones with a certain number of views seem to have them. when you click to hide them your left with a sizeable(in comparison to the player size) semi transparent tab on the side that doesn't go away.

 

[Joreal]

If I really want or need some kind of product that badly, I will look for it myself and don't need to be told about it by some b-list celebrity every 15 minutes during Top Gear.

HI, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDfrwHHScxg] BILLY [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6k5AIq960A] MAYS [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s77stCHXy-s] HERE! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ghx9nn1YU]

 

[wewontdie11]

If I really want or need some kind of product that badly, I will look for it myself and don't need to be told about it by some b-list celebrity every 15 minutes during Top Gear.

HI, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDfrwHHScxg] BILLY [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6k5AIq960A] MAYS [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s77stCHXy-s] HERE! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ghx9nn1YU]

Ah the first one of those is brilliant. My personal favourite one of those, just for the product is the JML Magnicard! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGdoiOmpMLE] Who the hell thought that was a good or even remotely useful invention? Yes because I constantly find myself having to read small text in the pitch black.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Unless an ad is truly inventive or creative, it doesn't deserve to exist, never mind be mass printed and left on walls or videos to stagnate forever.

 

[TheBluesader]

I love infomercials. There's nothing more honest on television, even if the shows themselves are full of horrible lies. This is programming that exists entirely to sell you something, instead of regular programming that's just trying to trick you into watching ads. And when they're as funny as this one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtpKjgwi4Sc], there's no better waste of time.

As far as online ads? I thought this whole 'Internet 2.0' thing only meant 'It's the same old Internet, but now with more personal info stealing so we can target you with Flash video ads.' They aren't going to go away, and they aren't going to get less obtrusive. I think we all just have to get used to it.

And you thought the future was going to be all cool flying cars and invisibility cloaks and stuff. Ha ha, wrong again, wrong-guy!

 

[samsprinkle]

Don't get me wrong, I dislike ads, but your poll is what I would expect a communist election ballot to look like.

Who's the unquestionable leader, our supreme comrade and the only son of God himself?

A: Joseph Stalin
B: Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin
C: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин
D: იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი


Hehe, good one.

I hate ads. They are pointless, as I never listen to what they say, no matter who tries to sell the product.

is c. serbian?

 

[coldfrog]

Unless an ad is truly inventive or creative, it doesn't deserve to exist, never mind be mass printed and left on walls or videos to stagnate forever.

I almost entirely agree with this, but I would also accept ads that show you exactly what it is they are advertising and what is worthwhile about it without a lot of flashy show-offy crap. Unfortunately, what gets numbers is lots of CGI, attractive people and catch phrases.

 

[sky14kemea]

i dont really care about ads, i never follow them XD i usually blank them out