This article was contributed by Emily Doxon who is a freelance content writer covering technology, security, and privacy-related articles at Clario.
Advertisement is an amazing way to reach your target customers. This method has been efficient over the years, and more companies are utilizing it. However, many firms are overdoing their marketing.
Before, marketing was sensible and minimal. Advertising was limited to television, city banners, and radio stations. With the advance of smartphones, the approach also changed.
Instead of mainstream media like television and radio, brands began using digital media. It became a norm to see promotional content on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Twitter, etc. However, there was an option to skip such content.
For some reason, marketing has suddenly become forceful. It is so intrusive that people have begun to worry about their privacy.
One minute you’re talking to a friend about a mobile phone, dishwasher, or household item. By the next, Google suggests brands that produce that merchandise for you. Like that approach was not disturbing enough, you now must deal with eavesdropping.
What Are Intrusive Advertisements?
Intrusive advertisement is invasive, unwelcome, and irrelevant promotional content that pops up on the screen. This can occur when the user visits a website or uses a mobile app.
Intrusive ads often take the following forms:
- Landing pages that redirect web users to an entirely different webpage. It can reoccur whenever you issue any command on a website.
- Videos that autoplay or pop up on your screen once you scroll past a certain point on the webpage. You have to close the dialogue box to stop them manually. They can be repetitive and very annoying.
- Audios that occur alongside a video or as a background sound effect. You may have to reduce your device’s volume or exit the page you’re viewing.
How to Stop and Prevent Intrusive Ads
Before discussing how to prevent ads, mentioning that not all promotional content is invasive is important. Some of these advertisements are still relevant and beneficial. As a matter of fact, it is literally impossible to avoid marketing. However, it is possible to reduce your exposure to annoying ads.
83% of internet users do not consider all ads terrible. A further 57% said they would rather streamline marketing content than remove it.
The reason is that there are still subtle and non-intrusive ads. These promotions do not just flash in your face. They are also not distracting or cover the main content.
That said, let’s examine ways you can deal with intrusive ads.
Avoid Websites with Intrusive Ads
Often, internet users are the cause of their problems. They regularly visit websites that are filled with intrusive ads. This is peculiar to pirate websites.
Pirate websites are web pages where users can stream or download content for free. This includes movies, music, and eBook.
Unlike legitimate platforms, these internet sites do not charge you for every movie, music piece, or eBook you download. In this regard, they do not get any commission when you access the content. Despite not making money through these files, they still need funding.
So, how do they raise funding to maintain operations? The answer is simple, promoting alternative products. The administrators of these websites are part of various affiliate programs.
In this regard, they need individuals who access their website to use a call-to-action. The CTA may include clicking a link or watching an ad. As such, the act of pushing the ads in your face is to increase the likelihood of you falling for their persuasion.
The best way to save yourself from this type of ads is to avoid such websites totally. Do not attempt to visit them after enabling an ad-blocker on your browser. Most of these sites will detect the filter tool and not allow you to access their content.
Uninstall Mobile Apps with Adware
Free applications operate similarly to the websites mentioned above. They require funding to continue operations. Users are not purchasing premium versions of these apps, but developers still need to be paid.
Similar to pirate websites, they promote products and services from third-party companies. This is very common with games. They often demand that players watch ads for additional benefits or in-game power-ups.
Besides games, free versions of regular apps like music and video players also display promotions. While advertising is completely adverse, it becomes a problem when that application displays marketing content that overrides your screen usage.
For example, a browser displays pop-ups on your screen and blocks content. This is worse if the application is not open. Chances are that it may just be adware or spyware.
If you notice an app that has adware, follow the steps below to uninstall it immediately:
- Go to your phone’s Settings
- Click on iPhone storage
- Search for the app you want to uninstall from your phone and press Delete App.
Before doing so, remove every permission it has on your phone. This ensures that malicious apps do not have any backdoor access to your phone after removal.
Simply follow this process to revoke special access of applications on your iPhone:
- Go to settings
- Navigate to your applications
- Select the particular application you want to revoke its access
- Click on Stop App Access
Use an Ad Blocker
It is easier to prevent or stop some intrusive ads when you can identify what is projecting these promotions. Manually detecting their sources can be very difficult. It is best to outsource this duty in this case.
Ad blockers are software that identifies and filters out adware from your phone. It works similarly to an antivirus. You can also customize them to suit your needs.
As mentioned earlier, not all marketing strategies are invasive, and it is impossible to block everything. However, you can use some of the best ad blockers for iPhone to protect yourself.
They include:
- Total Adblock
- uBlock Origin
- Private Internet Access
- Privacy Badger
- Clario
- CyberGhost
- Adblock Plus
Many of these applications are free and work excellently well. Others may require that users pay a substantial premium fee. Nonetheless, ensure you do your research and identify the one that best fits your device before choosing it.
Manually Block Apps on Web Browsers
Another way to stop intrusive ads is manually blocking them on your web browser. While pirate websites are culpable of aggressive promotions, they are not the only guilty party. Many other online platforms also shove affiliate marketing in the faces of individuals.
Every web browser has a feature that blocks pop-ups from covering your screen. You can activate it using the steps below:
- Launch your Chrome browser
- Open its Settings
- Navigate to Privacy and Security
- Click on Site Settings
- Select Pop-ups and Redirects
- Choose the option that prevents sites from sending pop-ups or redirecting you to other pages.
Even better, web browsers like Google Chrome allow you to blacklist specific websites displaying pop-ups or redirecting you to other websites. It works almost like a blacklist, and you will enjoy surfing such internet sites better than before.
This is as shown below:
- Click on add to add a specific website you want to block ads or stop redirects
- Type in the URL of that website
- Click on add to complete the process:
Conclusion
Advertising is an important medium to reach your target audience. However, it does not mean that companies must forcefully promote their products and services. You have the right to filter out what you should see.
Ads should not disturb your access to online content or distract you from the results you seek online. Use the tips highlighted in this piece to prevent pop-ups, redirects, and other annoying ads.
About the author
Emily Doxon is a freelance content writer covering technology, security, and privacy-related articles at Clario. After seven years of experience securing users’ devices from online threats, she is now sharing her expertise in numerous tech-related publications.
Last Updated on April 7, 2023 5:18 pm CEST by Markus Kasanmascheff
