3's permanent banner ad on the Nokia 3,000 series

I was out last night with a friend.  I spied his new phone.  He’s using 3.  Poor guy.  We both lamented the fact that they don’t actually offer proper internet access. 

Then, with no small embarrassment, he showed me the permanent banner ad on the bottom of the phone’s main screen.

I looked on incredulously.  It’s advertising various 3 services and animating just like you’d expect a web banner ad.  Takes up roughly 1/6th of the screen and is located right at the bottom.

I must have missed something in the news recently. 

There’s a small banner ad on the bottom of the Nokia 3,000 series phone.  A sodding banner ad!  I thought those went out of fashion years ago.  Apparently not. 

"Relax," I told him, "That’ll be for the plebs.  Just change the theme."

"No, tried that," he fired back.  Seems you’re forced to put up with it.  He’s only seen 3 advertising on it so far — no other brands yet.