I personally hardly ever notice a banner advertisement. If it is a static image, it's pretty much guaranteed I will not recall what the ad was for. Static banner ads are pretty much a thing of the past for that very reason, and the majority of Internet users are now on broadband connections, so animated ads are possible. I seldom click on a banner ad, but when I do it is becuase something caught my eye and provided information for a product or service that I was possibly interested in. (Even though I didn't know I was at the time). To me, that's what good banner advertising is, an ad that features both the product and something that will engage me. Many ads are engaging, but fail to ever show the product in hopes of getting you to click the ad.
Like I said before, I am most likely to click on banners that engage me from the start, and that I kow what product they are for. Banners ads that I remember clicking recently are for new models of automobiles, computer or Ipod related products, and financial/banking services.
Below is an advertisement that I would most likely engage myself in, and possibly click on to find out more information:
Not only is the ad for a car, when will generally spark my interest, but it allows me to type in actions that the car can perform. Very cool.
The article Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings was a very interesting read. A study was performed tracking the eye movements of web survers. They found that most people were completely blind to banner advertisements, and they were only focusing on the actual content of the ad. This poses a problem for advertisers, and advertising professionals. We want our ads to be engaging and clicked, but also ethical. Another point the article brought up was that the most clicked banner ads are ones who lie to you, make you think it is something actually on your computer, or disguise themselves as content on the webpage you are visiting.
In my opinion, Google's Adsense in a way is deceiving. If you have ever seen a site with Adsense ads placed on it, you will notice how they are generally just text links embedded within the content of the site, and usually always relevant to the site's content. Usually it will say "Sponsored Links" or something similar above them in a light gray color so it isn't as noticible. Is Google Adsense an unethical form of advertising? Do you think it tricks web surfers into clicking through?
2 comments:
Banners are tricky little buggers always popping up on you when you least expect it, disguising them selves and what not. However, the fact is because of banner blindness advertising has lowered itself to the point of tricking people into clicking through there ads. While this technique works to an extent it still does not mean that people are getting the information about the product being sold and it definitely does not that the ads are helping the company gain any customers. And so,I'd have to say that the sneaky banners are not unethical but are also not succesful in many ways.
Isnt it wierd being an ad major learning about online advertising and still being completly blind to banner ads?
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