Why There Are Way Too Many Ads on the Internet

There are far too many adverts and product placements cluttering up the internet.

Since Adsense came along every other person wants to write stuff and earn money from the accompanied advertising.

Some pieces are more adverts than written text, and to be honest, the written text is nothing to write home about.

I wouldn’t write home about a web page, but I expect some people do, if they have nothing else to say in their letter.

Plus, the expression should be mail home - no one writes letters anymore. Although I do receive a lot of snail mail letters addressed to me personally, helpfully offering to improve my life at only a small monthly cost.

Anyway, to stay quite cross for a moment, there are way too many adverts and something needs to be done.

By the way, if you are thinking about leaving at this stage may I remind you that it was you who found me and popped in to visit.

I didn’t ask you, I was just sitting here, so at least give me a chance to provide you with something that isn’t meaningless advertising copy.

And if you are thinking, more bloody adverts, well there’s nothing I can do about that. As a writer (oh yes) I need an outlet for my work, and the free route involves allowing adverts onto the page.

Otherwise I would need to try some sort of subscription based model and I don’t want to put my talent up against that sort of hard cash test. I mean, would you put your hand in your pocket in order to read this?

Thought not.

It's a self perpetuating cycle.

• People write to make money
• advertisers pay for ad placement
• consumers buy through the adverts
• the writer gets paid and writes more stuff
• repeat from the start

There’s an element called capitalism involved as well, but I haven’t researched that.

When I mention writers getting paid can I say I haven’t reached first base with regards to any financial reward. But for me, writing is a noble art, which is combined with a higher calling where I feel a need to share my knowledge with the world.

If through my writing I can inform people and enrich their lives then, and only then, will I be able to leave this mortal life behind. Although strangely of course, the stuff I have wrote will still be here, quite possibly for ever.

Better make it good then – is my own snappy advertising phrase which I am willing to market for a small fee.

With regards to the amount of adverts that clog up your reading experience on this page I can only apologise.

I am contractually obliged to have a bare minimum in the hope of covering next month's rent.

It's not excessive though as I hope you will agree. Why anyone thinks bombarding potential consumers, or as we used to call them, readers, with a huge number of adverts is quite beyond me.

Research has shown that viewers are quite capable of tuning out the advertising, and still reading the text. It hasn’t shown quite how irritated they get through this experience, or indeed how anti the product they become.

At least internet page adverts can be skipped or ignored. The ones that come with ‘free’ radio or on Youtube say are harder to avoid. They actively take up your valuable time and more or less force you to listen to the sales pitch.

One thing that is really quite clever, as well as being an invasion of privacy and an attack on my civil rights of course, is the way some advertising is based on stuff you are interested in.

I don’t mean the simple page about a topic which then shows associated ads, but the adverts that appear based on your previous browsing history.

So if you use Gmail then you will see adverts that are maybe to do with the mail, but also to do with websites you have previously visited, or search terms you have used.

The downside of this, according to a friend of mine, is explaining to the wife why there are so many ads appearing for gay Russian adult movies on their computer.

It has made me think twice about my usual web diet and the potential knock on effect.

However, to give advertising its due, I wonder how much of the internet that we take for granted is supported by it.

For example if the adverts were not on this page, would I have written it?

And indeed, would the service provider be providing it?

And would you be reading it, given that you presumably use some product to access the page in the first place such as the latest browser, maybe a laptop or iPhone, and so on?

So perhaps we should give a big shout out to the ad men who provide us with the whole thing, and all for free. Well hardly - but if that's what we have to suffer for a free and very occasionally, quality web experience - maybe it's bearable.

It's not really that hard to avoid purchasing from intrusive adverts and just take the free information or entertainment you were looking for . If the balance between fun, info and advertising is wrong - the back arrow is a powerful consumer vote.

If by some chance you do see an item that appeals then I suppose that’s just convenience. Rather than having to go looking it’s brought directly to your screen. Sometimes when you didn’t even know you wanted one.

I still think there are too many ads, but at least I’ve calmed down a bit. It’s the world we live in I guess, or to be more accurate, the world we created.

Perhaps we should be grateful to the advertisers, without whom we would never have known about the products that have improved our lives.

After all, the product would not exist unless there was some hope of selling it.

And then where would we be?

Our teeth are whiter, our hair shinier, our prospects are better and our homes filled with very necessary consumer items. And we can get the whole lot without even paying for it, thanks to credit cards and their associated advertising.

So, next time you feel like moaning about too many ads on the net - unless you have never purchased anything or are an active Communist – I suggest you just give in and buy something. Let’s get this economy moving again.

But steer clear of those gay Russian sites unless your wife has her own laptop.