AdBlock Plus needs improved marketing messaging

[bonniesmith]

Background

AdBlock Plus advertises itself as a way to block ads with the reason being that "ads are annoying". A lot of places that depend on ad revenue don't like AdBlock Plus and go out of their way to tell people to disable AdBlock Plus for their website.

What to change

Instead of saying that "ads are annoying", say that "ads cause numerous problems ranging from browser performance issues to distribution of malware to displaying animated ads that trigger seizures. By blocking ads, AdBlock Plus dramatically improves browser performance, increases browser security, and may even be a lifesaving medical device."

Saying that has much more impact than just saying ads are annoying because it can't simply be countered with, "Hey, by using an ad blocker, you are taking revenue away from us." Instead, it says that ad server operators are irresponsible, which makes it a much harder stance to combat.

[philll]

We are actually already doing this on some occasions, depending on the target group and timing of the messages to audiences. But sure, we can improve on that, so I mark your issue as ready to get implemented but fixed at the same time ;-) Once we got better, I might add the "verified working" flag then.