Ads with sound = Yay, or Nay?

What do you guys think about ads with sounds in them? Do you think that they should be allowed?

I think that as a business you have to try to promote your item. Make a catchy ad, maybe even go so far as making it flashy, and maybe moving on the screen. But audio is going too far.

The ads that I've seen with audio seem to be louder than normal, which I'm sure is on purpose.

Tonight I loaded a page, then kept it there and went to do something else with the page still open, but minimized. The page had fully loaded for some time. The music I was listening to was lower than normal so my headphones were on louder than normal. I turned off the song to concentrate for a second, then the ad decides to make noise!

It was so loud that I didn't know what was going on! That is half my fault, but it came out of no where, was low quality, and only played for a fraction of a second because it was having problems loading.

Not only did it hurt my ears, but I have a headache from it now, either from the volume or being so scared.

I understand the very high volume is my fault, because there is a general volume most people use, but I think that ads with sounds are just too much. They intentionally make them louder than normal, and usually you have no idea that they are going to play!

You can't really hurt someone with a simple ad that is just sitting there not moving. A moving ad could cause seizures I guess, but that's too extreme to count. An ad that has audio that is purposely loud can easily hurt your ears. The people using these ads can not assume that your volume is on normal or under normal levels.

So what do you guys think about this? Is it just me who is bothered by this, or are others too?

well i'm botherd by ads to begin with. if i wanted a product they sell, i'd go look for it on my own time, and buy it.

but ads with sound is going to far.

And yes, i too have noticed sounds for ads are much louder than average things. i usually have my music up pretty loud, while surfing the forums, or the net in general, and when i get an ad with music....BAM!! my speakers sound as if they could jump.

i'm glad i don't wear headphones, i just have a 2.1 sound setup, but still its very annoying, and i'm sure it causes some damage to my speakers.

also, this idea has already been implemented into TV commercials. the ads on TV are ALWAYS louder than the program you are watching, they do that on purpose, and have been doing it for a loooong time.

heh, i'm sure if someone was wearing headphones loud enough, or had their speakers loud enough, and a ad poped up, they could probably sue the company for ear damage, or damage to the speakers and knowing the U.S. they'd probably win.
Normally i hate stupid lawsuits like that, but if it was agenst a company thats putting up ads....then i'd just smile as the person wins the lawsuit. heh.

Yeah, down with ads, PERIOD!

zexmarquies01 said:

heh, i'm sure if someone was wearing headphones loud enough, or had their speakers loud enough, and a ad poped up, they could probably sue the company for ear damage, or damage to the speakers and knowing the U.S. they'd probably win.
Normally i hate stupid lawsuits like that, but if it was agenst a company thats putting up ads....then i'd just smile as the person wins the lawsuit. heh.

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I'm sure it did something to my ears. The volume was on 5 out of 7 on my remote, that would be instant death on my speakers, but my headphones are generally lower than other headphones, so it wasn't deathly loud.

And you know what! The ad was a ******* FROG! It squirmed out a half RIBBIT! before it had to stop and load more of the audio.

TV commercials are one thing. It's the TV, you know there is going to be sound on it. Also, commercials arn't meant to scare you, the network doesn't want people to die from heart attacks while watching them. These low class sites don't care what ads there are as long as they're making money.

This is beyond TV being a little louder to make sure you hear it, this is making sure you hear it now, and never forget the sound! I think the sound has been permanently branded into my ear drum.

I'd feel comfortable with a lawsuit against them. I don't think it's a stupid lawsuit. They are intentionally going over the line and not thinking about safety and proper business etiquette. That puts them at risk, then I truly did suffer from it! I won't pursue this legally, but I hope someone does, it's nice to be able to surf the internet without worrying if the circus is going to come out of your speakers.

theMonster said:

Yeah, down with ads, PERIOD!

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I wouldn't go that far. As I said I beleive in ads, it really helps businesses, which in turn helps us, we need ads. But the ad shouldn't cross certain boundries.

uberNAY!!!!!!
why should adds bother us with sound!!!!!!!

Certian Boundaries? Like Ad-Ware, Spyware, dozens up pop-ups, pop-overs, pop-unders, flash-pops etc.... They're ALWAYS trying to find some sneaky way to flood us. I've set my boundaries which are NO ADS PERIOD!

threeme2189 said:

uberNAY!!!!!!
why should adds bother us with sound!!!!!!!

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Yeah, I don't wanna be surfing with me wifey or our future kid in the same room and have some damned porn ad popping up with a chick moaning and screaming.

Ads??

Adblock filterset here

elec.tron

theMonster said:

Yeah, I don't wanna be surfing with me wifey or our future kid in the same room and have some damned porn ad popping up with a chick moaning and screaming.

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pppppppppppppppppsccccccccccchhhh
that happened to my mom a couple of times while she was at work...so annoying...

Ok, here is my take on ads. Advertising in general is fine, it makes the internet work. Websites cost money to run and maintain, yet users usually don't pay anything to view and use the website. Ads are the sole source to keep websites online.
IMO its fine to use graphic ads on the top, bottom and sides of the pages where you expect them and you can ignore them easily. Ocforums for example are fine except when the ads timeout and stuff. Computers for the most part are visual, so advertising using audio is not good and its annoying. I think its the same for all forms of advertising, like its fine for radio to use audio ads and its fine for tv to use video ads. But making talking bilboards wouldnt be good.

So anyway i think its fine to use a few banner ads around the edges of a webpage but definately not popups, floaters, sound, adware, spyware.

I used to use adblock but then I realized that is hurting the sites I visit because I'm using bandwidth but not helping them pay for it. Also I realized that it would just make them have to use more and more ads to compensate.

-Andy

They got pretty fussy after a while. I didn't know what was making the raquet until I had to close it myself. I miss ads when they were soundless.

The ads with sound I don't mind so much. It's these floating images that COVER the entire website you're trying to look at, they move around so you can't just click close.



Weather.com and TVGuide.com both do this. Speaking of the TV Guide, #$%%^#$&#@^#% man I HATE that station. Remember when it was the Preview channel and like 45% of the screen was actually information? Now it's two lines of text, 85% CRAP, they actually have "shows" on that channel now. They don't even stop scrolling, so you go use TVGuide.com but of course it's so loaded down with advertisements that your only choice really is to take your TV, run to the top of a NYC building heave it off and only hope it hits some TV Guide executive.


Aww man, I got all fussled up again.

I agree, and am truly thankful that I don't use headphones, I'd have to crane my neck towards my rig for the cable to stretch lol.

Yeah advertising is necessary, like to keep OC living but sound ads are just a **** take and really, I mean especially seeing with at night once my family have gone to bed so I just turn Winamp down to like 10% volume and of course an advert comes up playing at 100% volume scaring the **** out of me and possibly waking up everything.

Just one of the many things wrong with this world.

NAY!

I get so frustrated when the volume is up loud and a blaring, low-quality, annoying, and UNINVITED sound shows up.

Seriously Irratating!

and it seems they are getting more popular. i would be dissapointed to see them come here.
due to the various levels of audio i play, occasionally i leave my speakers up a bit high.
the worst is morning e-mail/weather checking in your first three minuets awake - guarenteed a bad day after being blasted out of your seat.

Stoanhart said:

NAY!
....

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I like that Tux Sig!...

Ads are a necessary evil for our "free" forums but I think ads with ound would just be to much.