Does anyone find this ad (it’s everywhere, for a mortgage broker) mesmerizing? It’s a popunder, and I hate popunders. But there something in the way this couple moves….
That reminds me. I think all ads on the web should have permalinks so we can refer to them historically. Why not?!
Update: Jonathan at FM has found a site that has some of these ads!
This ad is why I use my Yahoo e-mail account less and less these days. It’s a cheap attention-grab and it drives me nuts. Are these people so happy about their lower bills that they just have to dance in the moon light? Silly.
I watch it for a minute every time I see it.
Completely mesmerizing. I can’t help but watch it when I check my email.
I hate that ad, it is so annoying…thanks for bringing this up….
This is the latest in a salvo of Dali-esque mortgage rate ads. Remember the flapping butterfly and caterpillar ads last year??
I love that the animated models in this ad are not idealized, except by how much controlled substance they’ve obviously ingested.
Huh, I’ve never seen this ad. Where do people run across it?
Yeah, totally mesmerizing, despite the fact that it’s cheesy and entirely fake looking. It’s like those bad Sunday afternoon movies you end up watching even though you hate them, and you wonder why you let yourself get trapped.
I thought I was the only one. I feel better now. “I love that the animated models in this ad are not idealized” — I never thought about it before, but I think that might be why I just stare at it trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
The ad looks cheap but interesting. I use Yahoo mail but I have never seen that ad. May be it is geo-targetted. I also never experienced any popunders in Yahoo mail .. that may be because of many toolbars on my computer preventing popups.
The ad works in the sense that i noticed it — unlike all the other ads out there. But once I noticed it, then I seemed to see it everywhere and changed my impression from interesting to annoying.
see, i always see it and think the “chimney” on the left looks dirty. gah!
John, maybe you just aren’t getting out enough?
I actually use Yahoo less now b/c of that ad. Its been annoying me for the past month.
There is one site that it appears on all the time. One day I really took notice of it and must have watched it for a couple of minutes. Something about the way they move is mesmerizing.
My first comment from my wife when she saw the ad was “Why did they use a fat girl”.
similar ones are appearing on hotmail and i am saddened to say that i find them mesmerizing, too–the good news? i already KNOW i need to get out more!
This equal parts mesmerizing and disturbing.
Perhaps this is evidence of the long tail in banner ads…catering to the gyrating-danccing-in-the-moonlight-need-to-refinace-their-house crowd.
And Gid, I too wondered why the chose to use a portly gal in the ad.
Proof of the mesmerizing part… more than once I have tried to re-start the animation when the dancers finally freeze. How disturbing is that?
It is mesmerizing because it tells the story of a triumphant fat girl who got her man. The confident body language causes us to have an emotional reaction. We all want to overcome challenges, so I think everyone can associate with her.
I suspect that for every $1 that Yahoo has gained from this ad that they have lost $50 in future revenue from folks who head to gmail.
Yes, a mainstream person can identify oneself with the fat girl – not everyone is sexy and pretty. That’s why I feel the ad is meaningful and captivating. But I guess it fails to convey that meaning.
LowerMyBills.com has actually sued (and won) to protect the groundbreaking creative in ads like these. Wrote this story a while back: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3579426 There MUST be something to it else why would DR-oriented marketers be fighting legal battles. Maybe some kind of secret hypnosis?
two things:
1. it’s not a fat girl, her arm is close to her body (on her stomache–she’s only dancing w/ her left arm out) making her look fat.. it’s the angle. i couldn’t understand why they chose a fat girl. it turns out they didnt.
2. these ads are essentially just ipod advertisements on a different background. nothing particularly original.
Hey, looky. A NYT article about these same ads: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin
Turns out they’re not only mesmerizing, but effective.