Did I miss some detail? I get the impressions from the comments this is some really poor choice for user experience as people will often pause to check something

But in my experience pause ads are nothing new at all and they start after the device has been idle. What did I miss that makes this different?

In my opinion : The money is MUCH more lucrative now because of data mining. That’s it. That’s the real product being sold and because it isn’t encouraging innovation for innovation’s sake, but for a bottom line or goal that almost certainly depends on features that gather ad much data as possible to sell… etc etc

It’s to show playfulness and that the artist doesn’t feel THAT strongly, imagine how cold the comic would be without it.

And then consider that women have been raised to be polite and apologetic to the point it is even a habit for most of us. I guess that’s why I can’t really see it as cringe even if I try.