Open Letter to DeVry: STOP THE POPUPS!


I just got a couple of popup/popunders for DeVry Institute of Technology - despite the fact that I have a popup blocker installed and activated.

DeVry doesn't provide contact information on their website (perhaps that's a sign?), and this is really pissing me off. Do you people realize just what a shitty thing popunders are? They are almost as bad as Casino/Viagra/Texas-Holdem spam! You are diluting any reputation your institution may have had, and further negating the value your alumni may realize due to the crap you fling across the 'net in a desparate attempt to gather new students.

DeVry: please stop polluting the internet with your insipid popunder ads. If I was a betting man, I'd wager the benefit to your organization is pretty minimal (most click-throughs will likely be accidental or inadvertent - meaning they cost you money with no benefit to you), and the negative spin it puts on DeVry is pretty darned big (just ask anyone who has ever been hit by your popunder ads - whatever your marketing/advertising drones are whispering into your ears is wrong).

These types of advertising techniques would be best suited for impulse buys - and a multi-year educational program is hardly an impulse buy. Work on building up the reputation of your organization, and raise awareness by participating in the community, not by polluting a medium with annoying and distracting advertising.

I can't even imagine what the backlash from the faculty, staff, students, and alumni at the University of Calgary would be if they tried this crap - why is it OK for DeVry to do it? It's not.


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