Do we have to see ads every time we visit an Internet news site?
Here’s what got me started. Like most other people I know, I was mesmerized by the videos and news reports in the hours and days following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The images and the rapidity with which they were shared online were incredible. And yet, when I clicked a video on one major news site, the report was delayed by a commercial. Incredibly, it was for a discount hotel and vacation service – featuring a character who is a parody of an Asian man! Tacky? Duh. Doesn’t anybody screen these things?
I know the goal behind revenue- and sales-generating advertisements is to get them in front of the most viewers – hence the biggest events of the day. But do they have to be everywhere? Does human tragedy really have to be put on pause for the almighty dollar?
