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Advertising itself is good. Knowing about different products that can help you is actually really good. Sure you can get this information from friends and word-

Advertising itself is good. Knowing about different products that can help you is actually really good. Sure you can get this information from friends and word-of-mouth, but it's not always accurate, and there is nothing wrong with using advertisements too. Plus, there are some advertisements that are genuinely works of art. Even personalized ads are good if they're done in a way that ensures your privacy is safe. It would be awesome if Steam could find me some video games that are actually interesting. The problem is a lot of current advertising is completely broken. It's been said a lot before, but: companies making you watch ad after ad that you're just not going to buy, ads encouraging me to ignore them because they're ugly and make it harder to see content, advertisers that are so obnoxious and bad at advertising their products that I'm less inclined to buy them. Idk how this kind of crap advertising actually gets companies more money, but I guarantee it's not "subtly influencing" me to buy "Slots Royale" or fake medicine, or even Geico - and I know I have human biases and distortions. Also, ad tracking which takes all of my data and doesn't even work. Idk what the current trend is but I've heard that advertisements are generating less and less revenue. I wouldn't be surprised if, as population the gets more tech-savvy, ads will be forced to change / die out because so few people actually use them. Or at least get better at advertising.

horsawlarway 6y ago
> Advertising itself is good I used to think roughly the same - I'm really not that convinced anymore. I'd actually say your last point really drives home just how BAD advertising is right now. It's so bad that there's evolutionary pressure to learn to ignore advertisements. Ads are like a form of social parasite - They've hijacked a human instinct to share things we like and turned it into a profit motivated, manipulative, abusive channel to suck money out of people. Just like animals ridden with parasites are less fit - consumers who are most susceptible or surrounded by ads are less fit. Their decisions are influenced by ads to no longer objectively consider whether a product is useful to them. Like a mouse infected with toxoplasma is drawn to the small of cat urine - even though it means getting eaten far more often. Good for the parasite, bad for the mouse. Ads are good for the company, bad for the person.

horsawlarway 6y ago

> Advertising itself is good I used to think roughly the same - I'm really not that convinced anymore. I'd actually say your last point really drives home just how BAD advertising is right now. It's so bad that there's evolutionary pressure to learn to ignore advertisements. Ads are like a form of social parasite - They've hijacked a human instinct to share things we like and turned it into a profit motivated, manipulative, abusive channel to suck money out of people. Just like animals ridden with parasites are less fit - consumers who are most susceptible or surrounded by ads are less fit. Their decisions are influenced by ads to no longer objectively consider whether a product is useful to them. Like a mouse infected with toxoplasma is drawn to the small of cat urine - even though it means getting eaten far more often. Good for the parasite, bad for the mouse. Ads are good for the company, bad for the person.