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Advertising doesn't contain knowledge. It's like a stopped clock: even when it's correct, you don't know it's correct, because most of the time it's not correct

Advertising doesn't contain knowledge. It's like a stopped clock: even when it's correct, you don't know it's correct, because most of the time it's not correct. And more critically, even when it is correct, it's not the complete story. I've never seen an ad that admits that their competitor's product is cheaper, or better. In fact, most ads don't even want you to know their competitor exists. So let's not pretend advertising is about "giving knowledge to the poor". That's just an odious lie. If it were about giving knowledge, you'd by trying to tell the whole story.

manigandham 7y ago
The knowledge is that product exists, followed by its purpose, features and benefits to you. Why would they tell you about a competitor?
- backupcavalry 7y ago
  Can't help but notice that the product's flaws isn't in that list. I think the point is that advertising is providing you an ideal imagery to drive you to buy their product, truth and knowledge be damned.
  - manigandham 7y ago
    Flaws are subjective depending on how a product doesn't match your needs. What would a company consider a flaw? The product is released as designed, with no obvious issues. Again, the knowledge is them telling you about the product. They don't make you do anything other than provide information. You're entirely in control of your decisions.
    - kerkeslager 7y ago
      > Flaws are subjective depending on how a product doesn't match your needs. What would a company consider a flaw? That's one part of the issue. A company's product might be the best product for some people's needs, but there might be another product that fits the needs of some market segment better. But the company doesn't care if their product is the best for that segment: a sale is a sale. They'll advertise the strong points of the product, ignoring the properties of the product which might make it unsuitable for some consumers. This doesn't benefit consumers. This might all seem obvious, but there are people on this thread who think advertising benefits consumers. > What would a company consider a flaw? The product is released as designed, with no obvious issues. This is really, really not true, and I am not entirely sure you are making a good faith argument here. I work hard at my job, but I've never released a product that didn't have bugs and tradeoffs. > Again, the knowledge is them telling you about the product. They don't make you do anything other than provide information. You're entirely in control of your decisions. Your decisions are only as good as the information you have, and advertising deliberately gives you wrong or incomplete information.
      - manigandham 7y ago
        > "I've never released a product that didn't have bugs and tradeoffs" Bugs are not known flaws, otherwise you should fix them. What's the warning, that nothing is guaranteed to be perfect? > "advertising deliberately gives you wrong or incomplete information." Incorrect. False advertising is illegal. Trade-offs are subjective to you. What's considered complete information is subjective to you. Consumers benefit from the knowledge of that product existing and its features. Whether that product works for you is your choice. If you need more info then go research it. Nobody is going to magically tell you what's best for your life, that's your responsibility.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        > Bugs are not known flaws, otherwise you should fix them. That's not reality. Sometimes you don't have budget, sometimes there isn't a clear solution, etc. > Incorrect. False advertising is illegal. Haha! Okay buddy. Not sure what country you live in where that even pretends to be true, but our US companies are happy to break laws in that country to lie to you. > Whether that product works for you is your choice. If you need more info then go research it. Nobody is going to magically tell you what's best for your life, that's your responsibility. Sure, but let's not pretend that advertisers are our helpful friends here. They are our opponents, whose misinformation we have to constantly combat in order to find useful information to make informed decisions.
        manigandham 7y ago
        So the problem is companies that knowingly put out products with bugs and lie in their ads? Your concern isn't about advertising then, it's just shady companies.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        Is there any other kind?
        7y ago
- kerkeslager 7y ago
  They would tell me about the competitor if they were actually trying to help me. My point is that advertisers are not trying to help me.
  - manigandham 7y ago
    Advertisers are just companies and people doing the advertising, and they're only trying to tell you about their product (which helps you in it's intended function). Where did you get this requirement that they must help you with your entire shopping comparison? Why would they do that for free? It's your responsibility to learn about what you need and make the decision that's best for you. Also there's plenty of marketing that does help, for example the entire field of content marketing where educational and informative content is posted with a minor sponsor mention.
    - kerkeslager 7y ago
      > Where did you get this requirement that they must help you with your entire shopping comparison? Why would they do that for free? It's your responsibility to learn about what you need and make the decision that's best for you. Agreed. The problem is that on this thread there are a bunch of people trying to say that advertising is helping customers.
Nasrudith 7y ago
It is wrong to say that it doesn't contain any knowledge even if it is not the primary intent. Incomplete and often deliberately misleading but there are actual gains to it. If you were in Cuba and saw an ad for the zero to sixty time of a mini-van which emphasised cargo space that was better than a hotrod. Pretty much any interaction with reality even if pure lies can contain gleamable knowledge from analysis even if it is "they expect us to believe this crap".

manigandham 7y ago

The knowledge is that product exists, followed by its purpose, features and benefits to you. Why would they tell you about a competitor?

backupcavalry 7y ago
Can't help but notice that the product's flaws isn't in that list. I think the point is that advertising is providing you an ideal imagery to drive you to buy their product, truth and knowledge be damned.
- manigandham 7y ago
  Flaws are subjective depending on how a product doesn't match your needs. What would a company consider a flaw? The product is released as designed, with no obvious issues. Again, the knowledge is them telling you about the product. They don't make you do anything other than provide information. You're entirely in control of your decisions.
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    > Flaws are subjective depending on how a product doesn't match your needs. What would a company consider a flaw? That's one part of the issue. A company's product might be the best product for some people's needs, but there might be another product that fits the needs of some market segment better. But the company doesn't care if their product is the best for that segment: a sale is a sale. They'll advertise the strong points of the product, ignoring the properties of the product which might make it unsuitable for some consumers. This doesn't benefit consumers. This might all seem obvious, but there are people on this thread who think advertising benefits consumers. > What would a company consider a flaw? The product is released as designed, with no obvious issues. This is really, really not true, and I am not entirely sure you are making a good faith argument here. I work hard at my job, but I've never released a product that didn't have bugs and tradeoffs. > Again, the knowledge is them telling you about the product. They don't make you do anything other than provide information. You're entirely in control of your decisions. Your decisions are only as good as the information you have, and advertising deliberately gives you wrong or incomplete information.
    - manigandham 7y ago
      > "I've never released a product that didn't have bugs and tradeoffs" Bugs are not known flaws, otherwise you should fix them. What's the warning, that nothing is guaranteed to be perfect? > "advertising deliberately gives you wrong or incomplete information." Incorrect. False advertising is illegal. Trade-offs are subjective to you. What's considered complete information is subjective to you. Consumers benefit from the knowledge of that product existing and its features. Whether that product works for you is your choice. If you need more info then go research it. Nobody is going to magically tell you what's best for your life, that's your responsibility.
      - kerkeslager 7y ago
        > Bugs are not known flaws, otherwise you should fix them. That's not reality. Sometimes you don't have budget, sometimes there isn't a clear solution, etc. > Incorrect. False advertising is illegal. Haha! Okay buddy. Not sure what country you live in where that even pretends to be true, but our US companies are happy to break laws in that country to lie to you. > Whether that product works for you is your choice. If you need more info then go research it. Nobody is going to magically tell you what's best for your life, that's your responsibility. Sure, but let's not pretend that advertisers are our helpful friends here. They are our opponents, whose misinformation we have to constantly combat in order to find useful information to make informed decisions.
        manigandham 7y ago
        So the problem is companies that knowingly put out products with bugs and lie in their ads? Your concern isn't about advertising then, it's just shady companies.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        Is there any other kind?
        7y ago
kerkeslager 7y ago
They would tell me about the competitor if they were actually trying to help me. My point is that advertisers are not trying to help me.
- manigandham 7y ago
  Advertisers are just companies and people doing the advertising, and they're only trying to tell you about their product (which helps you in it's intended function). Where did you get this requirement that they must help you with your entire shopping comparison? Why would they do that for free? It's your responsibility to learn about what you need and make the decision that's best for you. Also there's plenty of marketing that does help, for example the entire field of content marketing where educational and informative content is posted with a minor sponsor mention.
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    > Where did you get this requirement that they must help you with your entire shopping comparison? Why would they do that for free? It's your responsibility to learn about what you need and make the decision that's best for you. Agreed. The problem is that on this thread there are a bunch of people trying to say that advertising is helping customers.

Nasrudith 7y ago

It is wrong to say that it doesn't contain any knowledge even if it is not the primary intent. Incomplete and often deliberately misleading but there are actual gains to it. If you were in Cuba and saw an ad for the zero to sixty time of a mini-van which emphasised cargo space that was better than a hotrod. Pretty much any interaction with reality even if pure lies can contain gleamable knowledge from analysis even if it is "they expect us to believe this crap".