Invasive Ads

Here's an ad, there's an ad, everywhere there are ads. Why? No one wants to see ads! 

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/02/online-ads-more-annoying/677576/

I visited this website to read an article, Something Went Terribly Wrong With Online Ads by Katie Lindsey. I would recommend you read it, but guess what? You have to pay to read it! I can't even go read an article about ads without getting ads. It's honestly super ridiculous. 

Why have ads being intrusive become so normal? I remember when YouTube didn't have ads. Then they had one pre-video ad. Then a mid-roll ad. Now I can't even finish a YouTube video before watching five ads. Not to mention unskipable ads that are either 30 second to 1 minute long. 

This is just a tangent. I really did want to read that article for this assignment, but now I have to go and find a suitable article that is free to read, all the while getting ad after ad. Banner ad, pop-up ad, unskipable ads, video ads that always play at full volume, there is no end!

Another thing to mention, there are two versions of ads; Ads that listen, and ads that are random. Ads that listen are the ones that usually show up on your phone, because it listens to you.  I recently bought new shoes, Hoka's. Not a day after buying I start to see Hoka ads everywhere. What in the world? Besides, I already bought my shoes. I don't want to buy more shoes. The second kind of ad are random ads. Ads that don't have any information on you maybe other than gender. They are generalized ads, ads for underwear or for clothing. A side effect of these ads is they are everywhere.

If you scroll YouTube shorts, you might have seen a porn ad. I'm not kidding, they exist. I've clicked on one before, and the app they advertised is directed at children. An app directed at children that has explicit ads. 

https://spartanshield.org/45682/opinion/consumer-frustrations-rise-as-intrusive-advertisements-grow-online/

This article, Consumer Frustrations Rise as Intrusive Advertisements Grow Online by Sean Murphy talks about ads, and guess what? There are no ads. It's refreshing to see an article not only free, but no ads whatsoever. Something that the article mentions is ad-blockers. Many people use ad-blockers daily to use the internet, as some websites are impossible to navigate without it. However, some websites, such as YouTube, have been blocking ad-blockers! They give a warning to users that they cannot use YouTube with an ad-blocker, and if it's not disabled, YouTube will not let you view any more videos. 

Something interesting is when I see an ad, I actively refuse to buy anything from the advertiser. Simply seeing an ad makes me not want to buy the product, it doesn't matter if I need or even want it, because now I don't. I use YouTube daily as entertainment, so I see at least 100 ads a day, and not one catches my eye ever. Ads suck!!!!!!!

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