It turns out most people were ignoring the flashy advertisements just as I had. However, the same way smart companies have allowed and encouraged costumers to actively participate in the process of developing improved products, advertisements have begun to do the same. New “interactive ads” are presented to a computer user in a way that allows him to actively participate in the product. Thinking back to where I might have seen this before, I realized that I had been suckered into participating in an “interactive advertisements” only a few months ago while visiting my favorite site, collegehumor.
One of the best segments on the site, along with “prank wars” which surprising came to umd for the incredible halfcourt prank, is the “Gotta Go in a Minute Show.” After every show, a silly twenty second clip promoting mountain dew’s new flavor of soft drink would air. In these ads, each flavor of soft drink would playfully argue with one another over who tasted the best, until finally a voice would shout “you decide!” and give the link to vote for the newest flavor. The fact that I had been given the option to participate compelled me to click the link and cast my vote. Needless to say, when the product came out which also happened to be the same one I voted for, I was eager to try the new product I had chosen.
Because I felt I had been a part of choosing the newest soft drink offered by mountain dew, I was already a fan of the product. Smart advertisement companies have taken advantage of the ability to interact with customers, while previous ads in a newspaper provided no means of immediate conversation. These relatively new interactive ads are exciting, for they not only benifit the advertisers and sites by recieving more responses than traditional advertisemetns, but also benifit the consumer as well, giving her the ability to help decide what product will be manufactured.
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