AOL chatroom ads - expect major user backlash aimed at advertisers:
interactive3.wsj.com
"Some ad experts fret that the whole approach may be a bit too pushy, and they fear a user backlash. Imagine running an ad -- and watching in horror as visitors to that site start trashing it, live, for everyone else to see.
"Advertising in general is annoying," says Alex Flagg, an on-line media supervisor at San Francisco's Anderson & Lembke, which represents Microsoft, Tektronix and other advertisers. "If they're just putting up ads where there weren't any before, and users aren't getting anything for it, then it will make them less receptive to our message."
"Some AOL users already are beginning to gripe about the chat-room intrusion, which isn't scheduled to start until later this month. "I didn't pay the AOL fee for ads to run across my screen," one user called Bladed proclaimed in an AOL chat room Tuesday. The 20-year-old prefers not to give his real name. "I don't want to be talking to someone and then have an ad pop up. They can advertise elsewhere."
..."And even if the company struggles to keep profanity out of the chat rooms -- a daunting challenge given the thousands of sites used at all hours of the day -- it is unlikely to expel a member just for "flaming" a product that is advertised. Tuesday, some puckish AOL wags already started making fun of ads in general."
- more in today's WSJ
Looks like another AOLfiasco in the making. BIG backlash aimed at the advertisers will likely include threats of boycott, product defamation, etc.
Regards |
