> The better an ad is at "hacking" your mind and exploiting human characteristics, the more money it makes. The same can be said about any negotiation or even

> The better an ad is at "hacking" your mind and exploiting human characteristics, the more money it makes. The same can be said about any negotiation or even any interaction, can't it? Yet there are some people and some companies you like and some that you don't like. I've been a customer liaison at a place where the customer actively went out of their way to see our sales guy; yes, it cost them money but he'd get them a better deal the they could on their own or with any other vendor they knew. He'd actively reduce his sale if possible without even mentioning but the customer had been with us for years and had noticed the pattern. There's no reason why ads aren't a spectrum as well: I see nothing wrong with a link to "this is the gear that I use" on a clearly marked page as long as they actually use it. Or a couple of books. ("You must read these 30 books to be a successful <x>" is of course another thing entirely.)