imran*

Two days ago, my MSN Messenger client began singing to me. At first I was puzzled, there were no applications other than Messenger running and yet I could distinctly hear Sinatra’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin emanating from my VAIO’s speakers.

It turns out that the National Health Service has been buying advertising for its Anti-Smoking efforts within MSN’s client – the ad creative includes a lo-res sample of Sinatra.

Now, though this type of ad content is certainly attention grabbing, it’s also monumentally irritating and annoying…as bad as hunting for elusive Close buttons on overlay ads in web pages. MSN needs to consider some guidelines for advertisers in its IM client…perhaps the NHS campaign was an exception, due to its subject matter, however, I rue the day Messenger starts to popup ads around every conversation and message notification…