

Ask YC: What's the most intrusive ad you've seen? - tunak

Ads are getting more intrusive over time, especially on TV. The current trend is to show ads that take over the bottom 1/4th of your screen, but I saw a new low. While watching Family Guy on TBS, an ad for a new sitcom appeared in the bottom left of the screen. The "star" walks on to the screen, picks up a remote control and "pauses" Family Guy to advertise the new show. When his advertising pitch was over, he "un-paused" Family Guy and the current programming resumed.<p>While we've been tolerating the generation of TV pop-up ads, 5 seconds ads to catch the "Tivo rewind", and longer commercials, this seemed like a new low to me.<p>So my question is: What's the most intrusive ad you've seen? Was it TV, Internet, at the movie theater?
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matthewking
I always thought popup ads on the internet were obtrusive enough, but these
new flash ones that cover all the content you're trying to read, and hide a
tiny 'x' or 'close' button somewhere take the biscuit!

Any site that features those should feel ashamed.

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byrneseyeview
In-person sales pitches are still the worst. Street vendors selling T-shirts,
panhandlers foisting guilt and selling guilt-assuagement, scalpers selling
tickets -- they're all worse than non-human ads, because they're more
adaptable and can try to manipulate you when you ignore them.

