Regretably Sounding like Andy Rooney
Happy New Year. With that out of the way, here's the first gripe of the New Year...
When you visit StamfordAdvocate.com for your local fix as I often do you’re probably all to familiar with this annoying gem courtesy of Stamford Hospital:
A poor man’s version of the Blue Man’s group hobbling on crutches and assembling a giant heart.
This is what is called a “floating ad” in the industry, one of the more intrusive rich media ad offerings. This is type of execution is more common to entertainment sites, not respectable news sites. Obama and Oprah aren't going to fly across NYTimes.com in jetpacks for a last minute caucus pitch. At least you are no longer hit with the ad each time you visit the site anymore. It seems to be “frequency capped”, which means the ad is programmed to display only a set number of times in a certain window by dropping a tiny file called a cookie onto your computer.
Why does a hospital have to advertise? If I’m speeding in an ambulance guts hanging out/ insides violently churning/ vital organs failing will I really start to ruminate on my choices and begin to weigh the pros and cons of Stamford Hospital’s rich media internet ads vs. Norwalk Hospital’s direct mailings vs. Bridgeport Hospital’s viral ad campaign?
2 comments :
You should get the Advocate in your RSS feed so you don't have to deal with ads...
I'm not sure animated ads are the best way for Stamford Hospital to get clients, but they are competing with other hospitals. If you're in a car accident, you might get less choice, but anyone can choose b/w Greenwich and Stamford emergency rooms if you go on your own, and you can choose doctors based on which hospital they're affiliated with.
And, thank goodness, you don't sound a THING like Andy Rooney; I read the most bizarre column by him last month about how he's adamantly against naming anyone a Jr. because, "Who has ever heard of Martin Luther King, Sr.?" It made NO sense, and it made me hate him.
Also, if you use Firefox instead of IE you can use the AdBlocker to eliminate ads completely. It is like magic.
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