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Advertising absolutely played into it. You just aren't thinking more than one step out. How did your company know about them? How did your parents? > Everyone

by darawk 8y ago

Advertising absolutely played into it. You just aren't thinking more than one step out. How did your company know about them? How did your parents? > Everyone should try living without ads everywhere. It's rather nice. I don't care about buying stuff just because I've heard of it. I only buy things if I have specific needs that I need to cover, and I don't impulse buy anything. I'm sure that I see similarly few ads to you. I use an adblocker. I don't watch television. But if a product is good enough, it will bubble up to me through the culture. However, even though i'm not directly viewing the advertisements, those advertisements are still necessary to bootstrap that bubbling process. Without advertising, it is extremely difficult for disruptive companies to get off the ground. Companies that create enormous amounts of value for lots of people.

KozmoNau7 8y ago
Sure, advertising could have played a role. My point is that none of that advertising was actually necessary.
- darawk 8y ago
  I guess we have different definitions of necessary. Advertising takes many forms. One form of advertising is product placement on shelf space in your drug store. To go back to the example of razor blades...without explicit advertising, someone has to have the prominent shelf space. Shelf space in drug stores is limited. What that means is that the shelf space is going to go to the highest bidder. How then is a cheap razor blade company going to get on the shelves? The answer is that they aren't. Which means that the only channel they are going to be able to distribute through is one like the internet. If you are running your cheap razor blade company which unequivocally benefits everyone who buys it (the razors are just as good, but cost dramatically less) how do you reach your customers without advertising? How does that company get bootstrapped? Do you think that company wasn't worthwhile, or do you think that it could have happened without advertising?

by darawk 8y ago

KozmoNau7 8y ago

Sure, advertising could have played a role. My point is that none of that advertising was actually necessary.

darawk 8y ago
I guess we have different definitions of necessary. Advertising takes many forms. One form of advertising is product placement on shelf space in your drug store. To go back to the example of razor blades...without explicit advertising, someone has to have the prominent shelf space. Shelf space in drug stores is limited. What that means is that the shelf space is going to go to the highest bidder. How then is a cheap razor blade company going to get on the shelves? The answer is that they aren't. Which means that the only channel they are going to be able to distribute through is one like the internet. If you are running your cheap razor blade company which unequivocally benefits everyone who buys it (the razors are just as good, but cost dramatically less) how do you reach your customers without advertising? How does that company get bootstrapped? Do you think that company wasn't worthwhile, or do you think that it could have happened without advertising?