Seen in a SF Muni station
Edit to add: Jeez, relax. I was on my way home from a doctor’s appointment and saw that ad. It made me chuckle so I posted it here.
If seeing this post really upsets you, take some deep breaths and keep scrolling. With any luck, you’ll have fully healed in a couple of days.
I’ve never had a problem with ads made in this way.
This form of “passive marketing” (I’m making up terms), I.e a poster on the street that you can easily walk past is fine. If your poster catches attention enough that people start sharing it because they liked it, the marketer has done a good job. In the internet space, I’d consider banner ads “passive”. If they actually filter out the scams and malware, and if someone wants to sponsor Rod’s Radical Recipes with a banner ad, who cares.
I do take issue with I’ll call active marketing. This is an ad you’re forced to engage with, like an unmutable gas pumps that’s playing audio, a commercial break or a pre-roll add If I’m getting something for free, then sure an add or two seems reasonable (well, 15 years ago it did), but I’m already paying for the gas, shut the fuck up and let me enjoy my 3 minutes of stress watching the numbers go up without some guy screaming about beef jerky.