I can confirm the spam - the popup I have up right this second says:

What’s your AVAST IQ?

“Take a break and test your AVAST
knowledge. Have fun, learn, and win
free licenses and teddy bears!”

They are promotional messages from AVAST, I get one every few hours, they do NOT go away until I click them, and I HAVE ALL NOTIFICATION OPTIONS UNCHECKED.

Yes, they’re popup advertisements. Yes, Avast has become just like the malicious adware it’s intended to stop.