| No one can force me to watch or click ads either. I can just glue something over my screen – or just mute the sound and watch some other video while an ad is running. Many people even are okay with watching TV 15min delayed, and instead having their receiver automatically cut away the ad breaks. You can’t force ads on users. Now, with the web, we have ads that aren’t just annoying, but actively malicious. And while I’m the kind of person that often gives people money because they need it – be it because they can’t afford a bus ticket, or whatever – or that I often if I am at a place with a sign "pumpkins 2€" (where you can take yourself, no one watches, etc) still pay more than those 2€. So it’s not like I actually like doing this. But advertising is not acceptable. And as long as someone can program computers, I will not see interactive javascript ads. Image ads with a simple image in a link? I even have a whitelist for such ad networks. Seriously. |
Whether it's the publisher's job to inform the users of the risks involved with allowing ads to appear is questionable (should the publisher also inform the user that staring at a monitor for extended periods of time can cause adverse effects, or is this simply common knowledge and implied?).
If you want to discuss the morality of online advertising, that's another story altogether. In my opinion, ads used to benefit the common good at the expense of taxing individuals of time and attention are fine. Take Google for example, the ads they show collectively benefit the public distribution of knowledge (search, maps, books, entertainment, etc.) Just like with any government, if you're unhappy with how taxed resources are managed (or the amount you're taxed), you're free to leave society and live outside of civilization.