1. Congratulations: you’ve got spam!

There’s no point in explaining why this flickering spammy banner is annoying and to be avoided. Note however the “Name” field. You’d think it’s an interactive banner. But no, it’s an ordinary GIF trying to deceive you.

2. Why is your abdomen full?

There’s nothing wrong with the design itself (or with the lack of it) but the copy. “Why Is Your Stomach Fat” – you’d think it’s about some medical condition that makes your stomach accumulate fat, similarly to the way the liver becomes fatty for instance. But no, it’s about abdomen (belly) fat. The ad wants to sell you a way to get rid of your central obesity NOT of your stomach fat. Oh, dear… How can someone write such a copy?

3. Select your state …after the click through

Interactive banners are practical and fun. And in terms of click-through’s they usually perform better than ordinary ads. But what happens when a banner asks you to interact with it but it actually isn’t interactive? Look at the banner above. It asks you to select your state… except it is a regular image you can’t interact with in any way. Obviously, by clicking to select a state, you go directly to a landing page. It’s a cheap and deceiving tactic. Very annoying. Do not use it.

4. Congratulations: you has seizures!

I often ask myself what’s on an advertiser’s mind when they make such idiotic ads. Not only it’s super irritating but it is also deceitful, false and lying. Such ads should be illegal, both for medical reasons and for moral reasons.

5. Turn on your speakers. Pump up the volume. Hover your mouse:

“Oh-ha-ha-haaa! Oh, behave!” It might sound funny right now because you expect to hear sounds. But what would you say if you would accidentally hover your mouse over this ad while quietly reading and article? Perhaps late in the night (when it’s oh so quiet) with your speakers’ sound on and loud. I wouldn’t call that experience sublime.

Digg it!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 10:12 am and is filed under Examples, News & Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.