Adverts

[chucky.egg]

Hi guys
I'm a regular browser here, but a very infrequent poster.

I've been looking at web advertising for a client recently and so lately I've been clicking on a lot more banners than I normally would (normally it would be precisely none).

One of the ads on SmartphoneThoughts grabbed my attention - partly because it was a Simspons image, and partly because I'm bored of my current ringtone. Enough clues, I'm not giving the URL out!

So this particular advert takes you to a site offering a "free" ringtone. But the small print (below) took my breath away.

This service will cost £13.50 per week until you send STOP to 83001. Start up: a sign-up fee of £3.00 shall apply.


£13.50/week! That's £54/month (USD $108)
That's more than my (and I suspect most people's) network subscription!

It's not tiny print, and in fairness to them they could have been much less clear about, but on a page with colourful Simpsons graphics small grey text isn't hard to miss. So is this the way business make money from banner ads?

It just shouts "rip off" from the roof tops, and I was sufficiently surprised and disappointed with SmartphoneThoughts for carrying that ad that it made me post.

I don't expect "ad free", but I feel that the ads a site carries reflect on the site itself - and that's not the sort of thing I would have associated SmartphoneThoughts with.

Does some vetting go on for these things?
Interested to know what others think on the subject

[Mike Temporale]

Wow, that is pretty crazy. I know that I don't even like to pay $1.00 for a 10 second ringtone. I would be really upset finding that on my bill.

In regards to companies making money off banner ads. Please understand, I'm I'm pretty sure you do, that the site you found is not run by us. We get no money from you downloading a ringtone from that site (which ever site it was). Also, while we have some control over the types of ads that are displayed, we can't police them. This is especially true if the ad is served via a 3rd party like Google.

[Jason Dunn]

It just shouts "rip off" from the roof tops, and I was sufficiently surprised and disappointed with SmartphoneThoughts for carrying that ad that it made me post. I don't expect "ad free", but I feel that the ads a site carries reflect on the site itself - and that's not the sort of thing I would have associated SmartphoneThoughts with.

Well, I agree that it doesn't reflect well on us as a site - but the reality is that when we put up AdSense or NetShelter code, we're handing over control to them to put up whatever they want. We can complain and get things removed, but we can't pre-approve every single thing that runs. When you saw this add, but it had an "Ads by Gooooogle" somewhere in the lower-right corner? Some do and some don't - but I very strongly suspect it was a Google ad. You can actually complain to Google about that ad if it has an "Ads by Gooooogle" on it, you click the link and can fill out a complaint. If, however, it was a pure graphic ad that was coming from Google, there's no way to give them feedback on that specific ad.

Without specifics to go on, that's about the best I can do for you...