Brewing backlash?
In the past, reviled marketing techniques have survived storms of consumer protest. Junk email, for example, continues to clog in-boxes across the globe despite repeated attempts to stamp it out.
Nevertheless, sites that don't take into account consumer attitudes could suffer over the long haul.
NYTimes.com reader Brittain, for example, says annoying pop-up ads on Netscape's site already keep him from going there for news and information.
"Most of the time if it's something that annoys me, I'll stop going there. But I value (Netscape's) content in a different way than I value The New York Times site."
At least one company is trying to deal with negative responses from consumers. X-10, the company behind a blanket of pop-under ads on the NYTimes.com and across the Net, gives irked consumers instructions how to "opt out" of receiving the ads for 30 days.
For its part, The New York Times said that it has received mixed reactions to the X-10 ads. Like many Net publishers, NYTimes.com was approached by the marketer to test the format.
"We're always looking at new and creative ad formats," said New York Times spokeswoman Christine Mohan, adding that the NYTimes.com charges a "premium" for the ads.
To calm the surprise effect of its ads, the pop-unders are set to appear only once a day per viewer.
Nevertheless, negative reactions to the ads--and X-10--seem to be numerous.
"These new ads really seem to bug people," said Richard Smith, chief technology officer for the Privacy Foundation who is often a sounding board for friends and colleagues about technology. "It's going to be interesting to see if sites keep them or not."
