Pop-Up Ads Are So Desperate!

I was doing a little online research just now and clicked on a link to an article on Inc.com. I was first served up a full-page ad that I could not get rid of. I was so intent on getting to the info I was seeking that I never even noticed what the ad was for.  When the ad mercifully released its grip and I finally got to the page, the information I was seeking was buried beneath two other pop-up ads.

Full disclosure: This all happened with my pop-up blocker turned off.

I expect this sort of shenanigans from lesser websites, but from Inc. Magazine?  This stuff makes them and their advertisers look sleazy, cheap, and desperate.  In the high-stakes B2B Marcom environment it makes absolutely no sense to appear so desperate as to have to HIJACK your audience in order to get them to pay attention to you. Don't be so desperate as to force your target audience to need a pop-up blocker to thwart you.

Image: screen grab from Inc.com