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Winning stuff. It's been ruined
I have a message for the advertising folks. Give up on the sweepstakes and all ads that claim that the reader has won something. I for one have had enough. The Publisher Clearing House could come to my home with cameras, balloons, and a giant check, and I wouldn't believe it. You advertising guys have ruined it. It's like spam. I refuse to even take a look at what you're selling if you're running these idiotic ads.
I can't believe how many online ads there that say "you just won this" or "pick the person and win this". Just today Wired News had the very annoying banner ad with an animated boxer with two punch buttons that said "Knock him down! For a FREE Ipod!". Please don't insult our intelligence. If we knock down the boxer, you won't be sending any of us a free Ipod with no strings attached. At best, it's something like freeipod.com where you first have to sign up with some program with lots of requirements before we get the chance at the Ipod.
Another annoying advertising ploy is the "free check" that's sent to us in snail mail. At first it looks like a real check. The amount is usually not that much so it makes it look more believable. But then you read the small print where you would endorse it, and it says that by signing the check you enroll yourself into some program which of course has some monthly fee. So the check is just a contract in disguise. One of these days, I know I'll be ripping up a real check because of these stupid "ad checks".
One reason why Google is so popular is that there are none of these stupid and annoying advertising techniques. There are no banners saying we won something. Or that you can win something by just hitting the monkey. Their ads are just links with some informative text. If there's something interesting, I'll click on it. If not, I don't. There are no advertising tricks or games. Hopefully the rest of the advertising world will learn from Google.
