Yes, this may sound silly, especially coming from me. But let’s sit back and think about this for a minute. With advancements like TiVo, which lets you skip TV commercials, and the Adblock plugin for Firefox, which lets you block any advertisement on web pages, advertisements have become close to non-existent for many consumers, especially the tech-savvy ones.) While this may sound like a good thing, we have to think about the consequences.
Advertising is what makes content free. If it weren’t for TV commercials, we wouldn’t have TV. Same deal with the internet, in most cases. Most websites now-a-days monetize their site by placing advertisements of some sort on the page, hoping you will click on something of interest. Webmasters deserve to get paid for the enormous amount of time and effort they put into their sites. Blocking these advertisements with plugins or simply ignoring them hurts the website owner. If everybody used these, most websites would be no more! That, or all would be on a paid-subscription basis, and who wants that?
I use Adblock for Firefox myself. Am I a hypocrite? hardly…
I don’t believe in using bright flashing banner ads, interstitials (the ad before you get to the page you want,) or deceptive ads. I don’t put them on my websites, and I don’t believe they should exist. They significantly detract from the user experience. Therefore I use Adblock to block those.
I don’t block unobtrusive advertisements like AdSense, static banners, text ads, etc. Many times I will even find myself interested in an advertisement and click on it. The webmaster deserves it, and it provides a value to me as long as it’s relevant.
I don’t understand why people are so insistent about blocking ads when it that very thing that allows them to enjoy the internet as they have been, and watching free programming on TV.
Please, stop.
If you liked this post, Buy me a Beer!
Stumble it!
What a strange smile! What an honest analysis! I guess that’s the way world goes : the paradox between cash flow and ad-free is maintained by human diversity ; in other words the ad-opponents continue to wander by the seaside thanks to the ad-eaters! It’s neither an ethical nor a philosophical worth approach, but it’s life!
P.S. : I use Ad-Muncher, please forgive me!
Thanks for the comment Mack. The problem comes when advertisers have to start coming out with new ways to get their word across because of people ignoring them. For example, while more and more people are using Tivo and other DVRs to skip commercials, you’ll notice an increase in product placement in the shows themselves.
While that example isn’t a huge deal, imagine 5 years down the road. What will the advertisers have to do to catch our attention? If we would have left the ads alone, they wouldn’t have to think of these creative ways to grab our attention.
The more we block ads on the internet, the more you’re going to see different types of ads. You can’t ever really get away from it, and shouldn’t.