4 ms·

Why is marketing a blight? Netflix is pretty good at getting shows in front of me that I'm likely to like. Unlike generic TV commercials. Most Spam email is

Why is marketing a blight? Netflix is pretty good at getting shows in front of me that I'm likely to like. Unlike generic TV commercials. Most Spam email is just that, Spam. They don't try to focus on things that might actually be of value to me. It feels like good marketing is finding that would be of value to me and to get it in front of me in a way that is unobtrusive and enables me to take action (eventually at least).

NicolasGorden 6y ago
> It feels like good marketing is finding that would be of value to me and to get it in front of me in a way that is unobtrusive Bingo. I believe at the heart of this matter is a top down vs top up perspective. Some people see the world as 'powerful people manipulating the masses using their Machiavellian techniques'. IMO these are the people who hate marketing the most, it's built into how they see the world. Some people see the world as 'the masses control the world through their choices and the leaders ride the waves of popular sentiment'. These people see marketing as mostly benign. I tend to see it a bit as both, with some feedback loop between them, but primarily the latter.
iandanforth 6y ago
The incentives. Recall that before truth in advertising laws existed snake-oil and magic stones were openly marketed as being working cures for disease. The pure drive of marketing is profit, not the benefit of the end user. (Ultra-orthodox capitalists will say that you can't have one without the other, of course). There is no handbook of marketing ethics that says things like "don't make people afraid" or "don't sell to people who already spend more than they make" or "don't intrude where you're not wanted." It is an industry bereft of moral compass. Not because the individuals lack a conscience, but because the incentives all point them due profit. Edit: Here's a fun timeline about the history of truth in advertising for the curious https://www.truthinadvertising.org/timeline/ https://www.truthinadvertising.org/timeline/

NicolasGorden 6y ago

> It feels like good marketing is finding that would be of value to me and to get it in front of me in a way that is unobtrusive Bingo. I believe at the heart of this matter is a top down vs top up perspective. Some people see the world as 'powerful people manipulating the masses using their Machiavellian techniques'. IMO these are the people who hate marketing the most, it's built into how they see the world. Some people see the world as 'the masses control the world through their choices and the leaders ride the waves of popular sentiment'. These people see marketing as mostly benign. I tend to see it a bit as both, with some feedback loop between them, but primarily the latter.

iandanforth 6y ago

The incentives. Recall that before truth in advertising laws existed snake-oil and magic stones were openly marketed as being working cures for disease. The pure drive of marketing is profit, not the benefit of the end user. (Ultra-orthodox capitalists will say that you can't have one without the other, of course). There is no handbook of marketing ethics that says things like "don't make people afraid" or "don't sell to people who already spend more than they make" or "don't intrude where you're not wanted." It is an industry bereft of moral compass. Not because the individuals lack a conscience, but because the incentives all point them due profit. Edit: Here's a fun timeline about the history of truth in advertising for the curious https://www.truthinadvertising.org/timeline/ https://www.truthinadvertising.org/timeline/