Site Nixes X10.com Bedroom Talk
June 25, 2001 -- If you surf the Internet much, you can't help but see them: ads for a wireless video camera that you can install in your home.
In fact, the pop-up ads for the X10 camera are so ubiquitous that they've vaulted their sponsor onto the list of the top 10 most-visited Internet sites. But now one major news Web site has decided they're a little too racy.
How Popular Are Those X10.com Ads?
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Times' Web site, Latimes.com, confirms the site has asked X10 Technologies to change ad copy that described where one could place the tiny cameras. Why? Some viewers were apparently offended by the ads suggestion that the easy-to-miss cameras could be installed in bedrooms.
A version of the ads that ran a few weeks ago on the Latimes.com site suggests placing the camera in a "nursery, backyard, living room, front porch, den or bedroom." More recently, the mention of bedroom use has been omitted.
(To look at both versions of the X10 ads, use the Web links in the right-hand column.)
L.A. Times Seeks 'Tasteful' Ads
"We did communicate with the advertiser," said Latimes.com spokeswoman Donna Stokely. "We do strive for ads that are tasteful." She would not describe the exact complaints the site had received but said that since the campaign launched in April, feedback from users had been relayed to X10.
According to the company's site, the X10 camera measures 1.25 inches in diameter. The site boasts that the camera "fits anywhere" and is good for "domestic surveillance."
Many of the company's Web pages and ads include photos of attractive young women, although their precise connection to the product is unclear. One ad for the product asks invitingly, "What would you like to see?" Another urges prospective buyers to "Use it for fun!"
X10 Technologies President Alex Peder declined two requests for comment on the ads. An assistant said the company is in a Securities and Exchange Commission-mandated quiet period.
Online Ad Experiments Continue
The company's site does give advice on how to block the ads, which it calls "pop-under" because the ad opens in a new window beneath the page the user is trying to access. Stokely said the pop-under ads are part of continuing experiments with the delivery of ads through the Internet.
"I do think this is going to be something that will stay around a little while," Stokely said of the pop-under ads. "We believe because it is behind your page it is less intrusive," she added.
At the moment, however, Latimes.com has coupled the X10 pop-under ads with traditional pop-up ads for other ventures, effectively sandwiching the desired page with ad copy. In recent months, various sites, including ABCNEWS.com, have changed the shape or prominence of ads in order to get the attention of Web surfers and draw more revenue.
Those unfazed by the promotion of bedroom use of tiny video cameras need not despair. The ads with bedroom references continue to pop-up on visitors to the Web sites of the New York Post and even the staid Gray Lady of journalism, The New York Times.