FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Had enough spam? Get ready for a wave of obnoxious screen spam, says permission email marketing pioneer Mike Adams

TUCSON, Ariz. (Jan. 13, 2004) – Just as federal law begins clamping down on spam email messages, a new form of annoying commercial interruptions has appeared online: screen spam. These screen spam advertisements take over your screen and appear as large animations that play across the web page you're trying to read, or as large letters and lines that appear to be scrawled across the page, obscuring the website content underneath.

"Screen spam is the most aggressive, obnoxious form of interruption advertising yet conceived on the web," explains permission email marketing pioneer Mike Adams. "It's in the same category as annoying pop-under ads." Screen spam is an indication of the increasingly commercial nature of Internet content, and Adams expects the usage frequency of this intrusive technology to increase. "Screen spam devalues the Internet," he says, "by obscuring useful content with poorly-targeted commercial hype."

A better solution that balances commercial interests with relevant content is offered by Google's Adsense and Adwords programs, which make no attempt to obscure content and, instead, work to display targeted, relevant advertising alongside quality content. Sites that use Adsense to display commercial messages with useful content get the best of both worlds: an uninterrupted, happy user experience and the balanced promotion of relevant commercial messages.

What do the screen spam messages advertise? Some of the worst screen spam has been pushing Microsoft products: the Windows XP Tablet PC operating system and the "new" MSN service. Norelco shavers have also appeared in screen spam advertisements, along with many other products and services.

Adams advises users to complain to sites that engage in screen spam tactics, and to ultimately avoid visiting them. A gallery of screen shots showing screen spam in action is available at www.screenspam.org.

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Note: May be quoted or reprinted with proper attribution.

About Mike Adams
Mike Adams, president and CEO of Arial Software, LLC (www.ArialSoftware.com) is a permission email marketing pioneer who holds strong beliefs about spam vs. permission marketing. He funded and launched the "Spam. Don't Buy It." public education campaign (www.SpamDontBuyIt.org) and covers spam news and events at www.SpamAnatomy.com.

Press Contact: Steve Delgado (520) 615-1954 ext. 15. media.relations@arialsoftware.com