Display ads need to be more sensitive to news content

While it is good to see display ads getting more sophisticated and rich these days, I am still waiting for the day when ads served on news sites are done with complete tact. I loaded the NYTimes.com this morning and as I read the headline “As Haitians flee, the dead go uncounted,” I was interrupted by an expandable banner ad that loaded and took over half of the page. As my brain was thinking about the poor victims in Haiti, I was interrupted by a new TV show called “White Collar,” the ad unit literally taking over and pushing down on the photos of the victims. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and I wondered where the disaster tag was on the NYTimes today and why they are serving ads that seem very punishing against the content.