Why Do So Many People Hate Us?

Accenture just did a global study with some disturbing findings: 42% of people would pay to block digital ads.

Glass-half-full types will say, “Yes, but 58% wouldn’t pay to block us!”

True, but they aren’t exactly welcoming, either.

So, why do they hate us? Because there are too many ads that are intrusive and obnoxious, and many are not well-targeted with little relevance to the viewer.

We’re firing machine gun blanks at point blank range.

Of course, there are ad blockers, which more and more people have, especially youngers ones. Technology has solved the technologically-enabled problem of annoying digital advertising.

And for those who don’t block ads, well, they just make behavioral judgements on sites: if the contents’ value doesn’t outweigh the obnoxiousness factor of the digital pestering, they avoid the site altogether.

It’s a problem, marketers, and it’s only going to get worse. Are we helping people with potentially relevant, beneficial messages, or, are we annoying the crap out of impatient innocents who will grow to despise our ads and by extension our products?

We need to be smarter in where we appear, and more empathetic to our viewers with our offerings.

Otherwise, we’re royally and digitally screwed.