You know what frosts my flakes?
Online ads that keep you hostage.
Remember when advertisements were simple?
A commercial came on TV, you ignored it, grabbed a snack and waited for your show to come back. Not anymore.
Now every game and app has ads designed by what I can only assume are former carnival hustlers and escape room designers.
You finish a level in a game or check the local weather radar and suddenly a full-screen ad appears. But, there is no obvious way to close it.
No X button. No Skip button. No Exit button.
Just a big static photo or a giant flashing button that says “INSTALL NOW!”
You wait 30 seconds. Still nothing. You wait a minute and the ad is still there like its caught in a time warp.
So you tap the corner hoping that’s were the microscopic X is hiding. Congratulations. You just opened the advertiser’s website.
Now you’re staring at a sales page for a product you will never need or a gadget that claims it will solve every problem in your life except the one you’re having right now.
So, you try to back out, but another screen appears asking, “Are you sure you want to leave?”
Sometimes the ad refuses to close at all. Your only choices are to install the app, buy the product or restart the entire app.
That’s not advertising. That’s digital kidnapping.
Imagine if stores operated this way?
You walk into a store for milk and an employee blocks the exit and tells you, “You can leave only after watching this presentation on our exciting new blender or buying some cookies made last month.
No wonder people are frustrated. The advertisers think they’re increasing engagement. What they’re really increasing is blood pressure.
Here’s a little free marketing advice.
If your ad is so annoying and deceptive that I have to restart my phone just to escape it, you’ve managed to spend money convincing me never to buy your product. EVER.
I’m Grandpa Grumpy. What are some of the strangest things you have seen online marketers do to force you into doing something you had no intention of doing?