The software, originally spread through classic methods such as spam, has moved on to more sophisticated attacks by providing links to infected web sites through popular social media content such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, by feeding a corrupted advertisement into an ad network for web sites, and by poisoning search results called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) poisoning.

FORBES: The Proliferation Of Scareware Hits Home

Not long ago I heard a shocking radio advertisement from the US Department of Energy and the Ad Council.

FORBES: A Revealing Ad Exposes The Department Of Energy's Hypocrisy

Indeed, First Virtual, an Internet commerce firm, has developed an advertisement that can act as a tiny shopfront (imagine a Nike ad that would let you order a pair of shoes from within the banner), merging advertising and direct commerce.

ECONOMIST: Electronic commerce

Similarly, the more cognitive energy the viewer spent on the advertisement, the less likely he or she was to prefer the racier ad.

ECONOMIST: What's in the journals, September 2008

Advertisers could label the second screen as a distraction, but ad executives tend to disagree, with a caveat that the advertisement should look and feel nothing like the traditional commercial.

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