It is very difficult to be involved in Web design and not have to put an ad on your page at some stage. It might be an ad for some other company or product or simply one for your own services. To some, they are an necessary evil. They can help finance the cost of running a site or bring some product or service to the attention of the public. No matter what their purpose, people usually hate them. Advertising on the Web is probably resented more than anywhere else. Flicking through a newspaper or magazine, we see full page ads and double page spreads advertising just one product and think nothing of it. Drive past a massive advertising hoarding in the street and you might think that it is cheering-up and disguising a dull, grey parking lot. A five minute advertising break during a television program gives you time to get a drink or go to the bathroom. I can't think of many great advantages for ads on Web pages, they usually just get in the way. Stick a full page ad on a Web site and you have serious problems. It is an imposition to have to wait any length of time for a large ad to download and then to dismiss it – even if it loads in the background like one of those nasty pop-under that are left of your screen when you close a browser page. It is despised. You have been both tricked, had your bandwidth stolen and have had to go to the trouble of closing the window. How can that be effective advertising? All it does 'effectively' is antagonizing people. Even if the ad is not full page but is dominant in the context of what you are trying to read, it becomes a challenge. Perhaps the article snakes down past some huge animated GIF that is hollering at you to read it. The fact that you have to sidestep the ad means that you are being inconvenienced and no matter what the 'deal', your attitude to the ad, and the product it is advertising, is probably negative. Not a good way to sell anything!