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IP: RE: Appeal to IPers: X-10 Ads AND ALSO FROM ME!!!!
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2001 12:09:00 -0400
From: "Tom Weber" <tweber () wsj com> To: <farber () cis upenn edu> Dave ... I laughed as soon as I saw Jonathan's plea. Thought you my enjoy my own take on the X10 ads from the WSJ a few weeks back. I'm still getting e-mail from readers about it -- these ads are driving everyone crazy. Best, Tom ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Weber E-World Columnist The Wall Street Journal. 200 Liberty St., New York, N.Y., 10281 phone: 212-416-2207; fax:212-416-2653 e-mail: tweber () wsj com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-WORLD By Thomas E. Weber Can You Say `Cheese'? Intrusive Web Ads Could Drive Us Nuts 05/21/2001 The Wall Street Journal Page B1 (Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) I SURRENDERED last Tuesday, at 4:48 p.m. After enduring countless Web ads for something called an X10 wireless video camera ("Goes Almost Anywhere!"), I finally gave in and ordered one. Now that I've admitted this publicly, my humiliation is complete. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with a wireless video camera, but if the folks at X10 will stop bothering me with their ads, I'll be satisfied. If you've spent much time on the Web lately, you probably know what I'm talking about. These ads are everywhere, and they're obnoxious. Why all the vitriol? Because the ads usually come in the form of "pop-ups" -- that is, come-ons that suddenly spawn their own, separate window on your computer screen instead of simply appearing on a Web page you're already looking at. They swarm the screen like whining mosquitoes, leaving us hapless Web-surfers to swat them with mouse clicks. It isn't just X10 . Lately many Web ads have been getting downright annoying. It's partly a reflection of the economic slowdown. Advertising hasn't done a great job of paying the bills for Web sites, so Web sites are trying to deliver better value to their advertisers with bigger, brassier promos. BUT THERE'S a broader shift under way in Web ads, and it has been brewing for a long time. The Net is an interactive medium, which means direct-marketing efforts -- where consumers view an ad, then buy -- make the most sense. And so the Web looks a lot more like late-night TV these days, laden with infomercials and cheesy merchandise. X10 's wireless video camera may simply be the Ginsu knife of cyberspace. "This is cheap media," says Michael Kubin, co-CEO of Evaliant Media Resources, which tracks online advertising. There aren't enough paying advertisers to fill all of the unsold slots on Web sites -- especially now that so many spendthrift dot-coms have gone bust. As a result, Mr. Kubin says, companies like X10 can easily blanket the Web with ads. So much for those endless promises that Web advertising would be so smart and targeted that you'd never see an ad for something that didn't appeal to you. Just as with any kind of direct marketing, Web advertisers seem increasingly willing to risk annoying a large audience in hopes of reaching a few truly interested customers. "A very small percentage of people who view the ads complain," says Alex Peder, president of Seattle-based X10 Wireless Technology. He also points out that X10 uses an approach called "pop-under," which places an ad window behind the window you're viewing so you'll stumble across it later. X10 considers this less disruptive. Nonetheless, the company's Web site devotes a lengthy page to answering common questions about the ads, including "Is this form of advertising illegal?" ("Absolutely NOT!!"); and "Is this a virus?" ("This form of advertising is 100% safe"). The site even tackles the query, "Can you turn your ads off so I never see them again?" As an answer, the site offers a link that will prevent the pop-ups from appearing, but only for 30 days. In other words, the answer is no. Then there's the message of X10 's ads. Mr. Kubin's researchers at Evaliant were able to dig up more than 150 X10 banner ads for me. Most are variations on a single theme: a photo of an attractive young woman juxtaposed with a shot of the wireless camera, accompanied by such slogans as "What Do YOU Want to See?" and "Naughty or Nice?" Is it just me, or do these ads contemplate uses not entirely wholesome? "It basically implies it would make a great spy camera to stick up in a girls' locker room," says Bill Fulks, an X10 customer in Gulfport, Miss. For the record, Mr. Fulks purchased his cameras for an office security system and says they work pretty well. THE PITCH is working, at least by some measures. Last week, when Jupiter Media Metrix reported the most popular Web destinations for U.S. surfers in April, X10 .com was ranked 14. That put it just three slots below eBay and above such well-known sites as Napster and Google, which is pretty much like a commercial for spray-on hair beating out "Friends" in the Nielsens. Doug McFarland, president of Jupiter Media Metrix's online ratings division, says X10 's stunning performance is due mostly to its pop-up ads, which get counted as a visit to the company's site in the ratings. But don't discount those involuntary visits, Mr. McFarland says. "They are clearly getting exposure for their product," he says. The ads sure seemed like a good deal, offering the wireless camera for $79.99. But when I placed my order, I found out the device wouldn't connect to my PC without an accessory kit. Total damage: $129.99. Then, to get overnight shipping, I had to log off and call a toll-free number. The man who took my order wasn't certain when it would ship. "We've been trying to catch up from our last promotion," he explained. Can annoying ads be stopped? You could install ad-blocking software on your computer. Popular packages include Guidescope, AdSubtract and WebWasher. Or you could patronize sites like Salon.com, which recently began offering pop-up-free access to its site in exchange for a subscription fee. Or you could just get used to it. As I put the finishing touches on this column, I'm still waiting for my X10 camera to show up. And guess what just popped up on my screen? Yes, it's another X10 ad.-----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 11:46 AM To: ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com Subject: IP: Appeal to IPers: X-10 Ads AND ALSO FROM ME!!!!Subject: Appeal to IPers: X-10 Ads To: farber () cis upenn edu X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 5.0.4 June 8, 2000 From: "Jonathan B Spira" <jspira () basex com> Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 11:15:25 -0400 An appeal to IPers: can someone write a utility that prevents X-10 ads from opening on a computer? /s/ Jonathan Jonathan B. Spira Chairman and Chief Analyst Basex. What's in IT for you (tm). Phone: +1 212 760-1555 x113 E-mail: jspira () basex com Web: http://www.basex.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
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- IP: RE: Appeal to IPers: X-10 Ads AND ALSO FROM ME!!!! David Farber (Jun 03)