The story of every single banner you've ever seen

You don't need some study to discover that banner ads could be quite ineffective once you surf for a while.

Just try it yourself right now. Just remember, you are human, you are one identical sample of the greater test population from a biological point of view, we're testing human nature, not learned political siding.

This is how:

1. Just stop some times while you are surfing (and do so when you've already ignore the ad on your computer screen which we'll test you with), and see how much you can look kinda close to the ad without actually seeing the content, normally you are already concentrate on what you are reading so just keep concentrating.

2. Now, see how long you can only see what you see straight in front of you. Do you notice you can look pretty close to the border of such an ad without dismissing what you are concentrating originally?

Note: For step 2. you need an ad that doesn't flip every so often for this experiment, right-click a browser menu up on the ad to select the stop animation option is not what we want to do the test right--because then you'll see the picture--ruining the test. You can't be curious about something you aren't curious about. Let's test how you act out your motivation when you are still curious.)

3. Alas, notice how it's harder when the moment the ad moves? This is just the ad designer trying to trigger your simple, inexpensive, and probably genetic sense of curiosity. It works, due to this factor, it's harder to find an ad not flipping from one to the next every few seconds. Ads that don't flip often exist because it's easier to embed into websites that partner with the ad company.

It would be nice to choose a menu in your mind and shut off some behavior, but that's not physically possible. Advertisers count on this. When something always works, behaving as surely as a rock wanting to fall on the ground, advertisers grow to count on it and feel safer about incorporate that factor of human nature accordingly.

4. If you have the mental strength and high interest in what you are reading--it is easily to ignore a flashy ad 100 - 400 pixels between what you want to see and the nearest border of the banner. Not even a glance.

Some ads are even flashier, check out some of them and read on...

The flashier the ad (for example: one with fluid interesting animation), the easier it is to get at least a sub-second glimpse from you. Even a quick one, fraction of a second--to the advertiser--is all it takes.

So you give a quick sub-second glimpse. Where did that glimpse come from? Let's say as a common example of what seems like a car is flying at you a little bit too fast when you cross the street. In a sub-second moment you normally are eager to produce the time and attention for an natural calculation that proceeds like this:

• I) Whatever it was the speed is wrong;
• II) I'll do something about it by reasoning up a set of actions that works with the sensory inputs I have in my body that will get me out of trouble;
• III) I best look at it straight on to enhance the qualities of my sensory inputs so I can make the safest decisions.

You use this natural reaction every today, goodness knows every moment, it's quite useful.

Advertisers count on this. Here's what they do in preparation for this particular statistically assured behavior during the entire dance of give and take of visiting an page with an ad.

They often design an ad so that every pane that they flash you can be instantly digested in a fraction of a second. They know what they say in that little moment matters. You could ignore it if everything goes wrong. They can't have this happen for an significant percentage of the audience. So they test on a test group beforehand. Usually the message or feeling you get can be categorized into the following:

You'll find it...
• A. Hit you as very big mystery to demystify (playing on your curiosity)
• B. Or very funny
• C. Or very dumb
• D. Or insulting:
  • Web viewing is usually a very solitary and private experience. Even childrens would like some safe privacy aside from the normal surfing with adults guiding.
  • They can afford to insult you, no one will likely see your facial response, so you feel safe and only mildly insulted
  • Since you already did an quick reassessment of: "Since no one knew. No one is around to pick up that hyper subtle facial response off of my face. To use it as a good lead to suggest a snap comment: to me in person and try to pick some embarrassing secret out of me."

    After all that effort to diminish the offense which originally could have offended you, you could easily get socialable with the ad again and think, "You couldn't possibly be pointing me out." It's a workable silent white lie (see Liar Liar). And the advertiser counts that as a tiny win.

    But inside you feel it striking a chord, the ball is in your court. Are you a good sport? It's hard to answer the other ways to such a question. This is a chance to feel like a generous person for just about no cost (cost of reading an ad is still small to most people--on a per case situation)

  • Also, many people are comfortable being insulted when they are successful for the same exact reason--a Crying All the Way to the Bank situation--but again--it strikes a chord--they didn't exactly asked to be randomly made the center of a comic situation. And they aren't prepared for it.

    The ball in the reader's court. One have to reason now like reader do in a social situation, to recover to the ad like between two people at a lunch table. Saying in effect, "Good joke"--trying to look like that's something to be expected and it's quite funny. The ad is fooled.

    Now it's your turn to be generous, because you swear the advertiser who wrote this blasted ad meant very ounce of that insult. Tongue in cheek. And you are more than ready to have a big heart and forgive them. How?

    Advertisers hope you forgive them by reading the ad.

• E. Or some ads might say something that you feel can't be real: they may say something really contrary to your professional or personal beliefs, or *gasp* science.

  Some of us can imagine ourselves in this situation wanting to investigate the destination of the ad banner just to make sure that maybe the outcome and conclusions of the larger article that the ad could be leading to will be different from what the suggestive message title the ad is saying. (this is playing on our sense of justice).

  Continuing on the same track, they might even explain that interesting remark in an convincing manner, this is all the better, you learn something. A plus. (ads always try to leave in the possibility of a Plus in case the initial message doesn't strike a chord in the viewer)

• F. Sometimes they want you to feel like there's something with your name on it and it's free--without obligation. Hoping you might attribute recklessness to your action of ignoring the ad.

5. How most people react to this type of predicament:

5.1 ...So then you're stuck, you can't get that tiny 4 word or simple picture of a message out of your head.

5.2 Then you look back maybe. The problem is maybe--it would be no problem if it's a No-I-Think-Not. The problem is that it's a maybe. A problem if you are bent on ignoring the ad. A solution if you're the advertiser.

5.3 And so we're first base...maybe... let's see if they can hit a home run.

5.4 They make sure the message makes sense when you feel a "maybe".

5.5 It does take some research (which equates to trial and error to really find out how people think--there's nothing sillier than 5 old man pretending to know how thousands will react to 4 words, read Claude C. Hopkins if you are unsure about how serious I mean by that statement about old men). And they have to try to make it crystal clear and easy to read in a fraction of a second. It takes some humbleness and please, no fancy words. Farmers and Coal miners, a few with as little as 4th grade education must be able to appreciate it as well as housewifes with two PHd's in Nuclear Physics.

And they count on the test, and those favorable statistical results. From all that sweating they hope to get something across into that little noggin in your head. They hope they have something in that critical glimpse.

6. Whether you click it or not is up to you.

And they lived happily ever after... The End.

When I have time I'll come fix up the grammar (ugh the run on sentences and simple tenses..) and spelling...sorry if it hurt to read!!

banner ad n.

Any of the annoying graphical advertisements that span the tops of way too many Web pages.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.