Fullofkittens wrote:

First, we had the annoying-but-unobtrusive "shock the monkey" type ads. Then they started to get slightly more annoying by making little noises (generally when they were offscreen, prompting me to wonder if I had some other application open).

The first really obtrusive ad I saw was on mp3.com last year - to get to a page you have to sit through a 5-second ad that plays REALLY FUCKING LOUD (with mucho distortion and clipping) about a new movie. It really discourages you from looking at shit on that site (nowadays they've removed all their good content, so there's no reason to go there anyways).

Then we started getting banner ads that yell at you, and the only way to shut them up is to hit "sound off." That's pretty fucking annoying, but hey. You can turn them off.

Now, as of last week or so, the Absolut ads do their thing and there's no stopping them. They're going to shoot their cardboard chips at the bottle and that's that. The sound cannot be turned off. Very annoying.

Now, as of yesterday, those mp3.com view-covering ads are in my goddamn Yahoo email. Not, mind you, as part of a message - they're getting served up by Yahoo as I go into the message, advertising ebay. Fuck!

One can only assume that the next generation of ads will actually require you to play a video game before disappearing.

Me: "Ladidah, checking my email"
Ad: "BOINK! Howdy pardner! Rope a steer to save on airfare!"
Me: "Aw fuck you, dude ranch. Where's the close btton on this thing?"
Ad: "BOINK! Howdy pardner! Rope a steer to save on airfare!"
Me: "Shit! How do I get this to close without clicking the ad?"
Ad: "BOINK! Howdy pardner! Rope a steer to save on airfare!"
Me: (Ropes steer, saves on airfare)
Ad: "BOINK! Howdy pardner! Rope a steer to save on airfare!"