New Telemarketers :: Internet Computers Technology Media Essays

New Telemarketers The other day, while doing what should have been a five-minute task, I was online searching for a web page. Because I am a horrible speller, and mostly because I was in a hurry, I typed in the wrong web address. Instead of Google.com, I got Goggle.com. Instantly I was bombarded with fifty, yes I counted, fifty pop-up ads on my computer screen. As Internet users, I am sure that you know that these advertisements are not only annoying, but very frustrating when trying to get things done quickly. And they are, in this particular instance, confusing to both me and my computer. Ironically, or maybe a stroke of marketing genius, the very last pop-up was an ad for a free â€Å"pop-up killer† program that you could download. The ad worked because after â€Å"killing† all those ads, I found myself downloading the program to stop those annoying things. Then, I swore it worked because the next three times I went to Goggle.com there were no ads. (There was also no search engine, which took me a few more minutes to figure out why). Since then, I have become extremely annoyed with the program and removed it from my computer, but only after the program asked me another three times if I was sure I wanted to remove it or buy the profe ssional version. While even I will admit these ads and tactics seem like marketing gold, they also seem intruding and unethical. They may even lead to the demise of the Internet itself. And yes, I do realize that statement seems a bit extreme. Using the web as a communication medium is a good function of the World Wide Web. Communication mediums are one of the many functions that the web has to offer our society. But, these pop-up ads and other forms of irritating promotional tactics, such as spam, re-routing and faux error messages, are unethical. They are unethical because they â€Å"mislead users into displaying advertising; some are unethical because promoters are forcing advertising messages on people† (Farkas 110). And as you know and can tell from my experiences, they happen way too often. But how can these unethical practices hurt society and the Internet? Well, as Marshall McLuhan states, â€Å"like any other extension of man, typography had psychic and social consequences that suddenly shifted previous boundaries and patterns of culture† (McLuhan 233). In his chapter he implies that print and type lead to industrial revolution; the Internet can impact society just as greatly.