The Marketleap Report
Volume II, Issue #8, April 12, 2002

Intrusive, Confusing & Just Plain Rude
Pop Under Downloads & Ooqa Ooqa
By Keith Boswell

When X10 started the pop-under ad craze, like some mutant, hula-hoop fad, you knew that marketers were poking our belly. The jab was being softened just enough because you could "close the window" and it wouldn't be "that" annoying.

After I read the umpteenth story about a person who finally gave up and bought a web camera they never knew they needed, so they could spy on their very beautiful significant other at home easily, I knew we were doomed.

Then came the browser spots. You know the ones. All of a sudden a huge spider is weaving right over the web site you just loaded. Or some cousin of Jeff Goldblum's Fly darts across your screen as you wish you could smash it and wipe the guts from your screen.

Marketers and the browser are coming together as they realize just how easy it is to browe-jack your online experience. The pop-under download is one example of the browser being used by some marketers to push products in a kind of "Oh crap, did I download that?" kind of way.

Gator Software is a good example. They make a product that assists consumers with downloading products online. It can also act as an online wallet, containing your most often used personal information to help you fill in forms at a website.

Their newest campaign uses a pop-under window to flash a security message that asks, "Do you accept this download?" If you hit Yes, the program is automatically installed on your computer. Are you wondering what you just said yes to? Now there's Gator on your computer, smiling with those big teeth, ready to eat your brain. Does anyone else see how this is like pushing your customers into the pool as you walk by to hand them their drink?

And then I read about Ooqa Ooqa. It's still under wraps. But the technology sounds like the worst sort of invasion. According to several sources, the technology will allow portal sites and corporate customers to completely take over a visitor's web browser to change as they wish. The navigation bar of your browser would read and act any way they like.

For people wishing to extend the brand it sounds like wonderland. They've never had this much power to alter what their consumers see. For the rest of us, it's like someone coming into our home or office through our monitor, rearranging and decorating our personal space any way they see fit.

These new methods are stepping out of the opt-in, opt-out world. They are moving into privacy violations and outright disrespect for those who might otherwise choose to do business with a company. They flaunt the technology we use as if consumers know nothing about it.

Just because a marketer can doesn't mean they should. Business is about respect and trust. Chicanery belongs with medicine shows and snake oil. So if you don't ask, I won't buy. We must all police our personal choices in a world where the way we connect can be altered with a few keystrokes and a modem.

Responses from Last Week's Poll
I was happy to see that several of our readers were kind enough to send us road stories of their own and feedback about the last article. The trip for me had been an affirmation of everything good and the stories that readers shared felt just as real.

One email in particular struck a chord because it reminded me of why the web still excites me.

Hello,

Please remember that the Internet is GLOBAL and so are your readers. Not only will some people have never been to the USA (America covers two continents), but believe it or not - they may not even want to.

I enjoy receiving my Marketleap newsletters, and have felt that what I've read so far was almost universally applicable.

I know that the vast majority of your readers are in the US, but a little recognition and understanding that the US isn't actually the centre of the universe would be appreciated.

This is not a flame, and I enjoyed your article otherwise.

cheers

Michelle
Brisbane, Australia

When I first started exploring the web, the idea that my mind tuned to most closely was the concept of no borders. No imaginary lines dotting an otherwise beautiful planet. No intrusive divisions to keep people from working more closely together simply as men and women. Utopian, sci-fi, dreamer in the sky kind of stuff. But the web can make you feel that way. As a writer, I want to share that with as many as possible.

So thanks to Michelle for reaffirming that this newsletter does not simply serve an audience in the United States. We are speaking to the globe for the betterment of all. I feel a need to go and write a declaration of intent to speak in broad and narrow terms. Unchained like a moving-truck caged beast, I am free.

To make sure I keep up a global perspective, I'm shifting the newsletter to every two weeks. Oh yeah and work is picking up too. But really I want to make sure I'm exploring topics enough to give as much perspective as I can.

However, just like the rant at the beginning of this week's publication, we'll drop you some unexpected zing if something really needs to be said. Bi-weekly with a sporadic, now with extra care.

Here are the rest of the stories readers shared with us about trips they had taken. Thanks again to everyone who responded.

"While with my cousins, I was traveling through New England, returning home to Ohio. I got the great idea of holding up a sign for people who we'd pass. We did it for awhile, got some laughs, some thumbs up, and some smiles. We finally decided to stop after a trucker gave us the bird and a nasty look."
4/3/2002 9:47:58 PM

"My favorite road trip was driving an 18-wheeler across Southern Texas and into Arizona and New Mexico (or is that the other way around - never could remember which state came first out of Texas). I remember the sheer "nothingness" of Texas. A "whole lot of nothing" as I describe it to this day. Not another vehicle for miles or hours. Desert with little in the way of vegetation and that all twisted and monochromatic. The vast sky. The radio silent except for the occasional mexican station appearing then vanishing like ghosts of memory. The incredible feeling of isolation and the sudden realization of just how large our country really is. Then into New Mexico and Arizona and it was like breaking through into different dimensions because suddenly there were other vehicles and radio stations and roadside stands."
4/4/2002 5:25:54 AM

"I'd have to say the road trip in the book "The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub...I'm glad I wasn't on that one!!!"
4/4/2002 9:30:45 AM

"Wishing I'd been on an "across America" roadtrip..."
4/4/2002 12:58:29 PM

"Connecticut to San Diego, CA in 1993 with a three day stop in Colorado to see two nights of Phish at Red Rocks amphitheater."
4/4/2002 1:06:08 PM

"Many years ago, having just left my teenage years behind, I plus two girlfriends took my friend's family stationwagon and a pop-up camper from St. Louis to Colorado - Mesa Verde and the Air Force Academy; Arizona - Painted Desert and Grand Canyon; Las Vegas where we were thrown out of the slots for being underage; LA - Disneyland and the CA beaches; SF with a tour along Big Sur, plus side trips to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks; Portland, Ore; Billings, Montana, the Dakotas,including Mt. Rushmore; Minnesota and Wisconsin onto Cincinnati OH where we turned in the camper, picked up some family and drove still further east to Rhode Island. Six weeks, six thousand miles, lots of adventures, lots of fun for three girls just out of their teens."
4/4/2002 3:58:21 PM

"Since they invented this new mode of transportation called the airplane I don't take many road trips (time is money baby). One year the new flying contraptions were grounded due to a snow storm and we were planning to head to the bastion of culture otherwise known as Sacramento to visit the grandparents. My dad turns to my stepmother and says that we can either wait at the airport till later in the day and find out that our plane still can't fly or we can all jump in the Suburban and fly down his way. Well we got in the Suburban and made it to Sacramento in less than 20 hours, driving straight through. It was midnight Christmas Eve and we were just in time to catch all of the aunts, uncles, and grandparents playing Santa. I think that car still has a footprint of my moms sneaker embedded in the dash as she tried to brace herself for the next near miss. You don't know what living truely is until your airborne in the back of a Suburban. There's also the trip to see Zepplin at the Gorge but that involves a lot of drugs so I don't think it is referencable."
4/10/2002 10:55:11 AM