4 ms·

Does it though? When's the last time it worked on you?

parthdesai 5y ago
I did buy something based off an instagram ad. I also would rather have ads that are meaningful than be shown some useless ads.
- SuoDuanDao 5y ago
  Your word in Zuckerberg's ear. I love seeing ads for things I actually want. I'd say they're less than 1% of all the ads I see though. For all the data these companies have on me, they don't seem to make great use of it.
david422 5y ago
It's brand recognition, not "I'm going to buy this product right now". And the next time you need a product, you have a positive attachment to certain brands.
- lijogdfljk 5y ago
  Not that i disagree, but it's funny to me that more people aren't paranoid of companies like i am. I expect _everyone_ to try and swindle me. No company loses anything, so every sale or v2 product i expect to be worse for me. The only time i actually like ads and feel it "works on me" is when the product is a new area i have not previously seen before. Eg heated cups - i love my Ember. It sucks, but there's not much competition i'm aware of - so early ads were a dominated space. I eat those ads up if it's a product area i care about. (and i really love heated coffee lol)
  - david422 5y ago
    It can be mutually beneficial too though. You get something, the company gets something.
cko 5y ago
Years ago I saw an ad on Facebook for a merino wool sneaker. It looked clean and minimalistic. I happened to enjoy wearing shoes without socks, so I clicked on the link and immediately bought a pair of Allbirds. (Years later I read that Allbirds is part of the SV tech worker uniform.) Also I definitely have clicked on those marketing email newsletters and made purchases based on those. In case I sound like a major consumer, I will mention that I managed to live in New Jersey for 8 years spending $1200 a month. That's rent, food, transportation, and impulse buys.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
burnished 5y ago
If you think of advertising as being "see ad -> buy thing", well, it may have worked on you if you needed that thing. That's not a crazy idea right? Advertising purely as a form of product discovery? Then, beyond that, you can get into the stuff that uses observations about basic human psychology. It might be arrogance to consider yourself above human weakness. You are probably familiar with the strategy of brand awareness? All else being equal you are more likely to purchase a product that is familiar to you. If you see an advertisement for a product, even if you try to form a negative emotional attachment immediately, the emotional tenor will fade but the familiarity will remain. I'm not going to say every form of advertising is effective, probably a lot of the web stuff that can be gamed is gamed and thus less effective, but I'd be cautious assuming it won't work on you (or anyone else for that matter).

I did buy something based off an instagram ad. I also would rather have ads that are meaningful than be shown some useless ads.

SuoDuanDao 5y ago
Your word in Zuckerberg's ear. I love seeing ads for things I actually want. I'd say they're less than 1% of all the ads I see though. For all the data these companies have on me, they don't seem to make great use of it.

david422 5y ago

It's brand recognition, not "I'm going to buy this product right now". And the next time you need a product, you have a positive attachment to certain brands.

lijogdfljk 5y ago
Not that i disagree, but it's funny to me that more people aren't paranoid of companies like i am. I expect _everyone_ to try and swindle me. No company loses anything, so every sale or v2 product i expect to be worse for me. The only time i actually like ads and feel it "works on me" is when the product is a new area i have not previously seen before. Eg heated cups - i love my Ember. It sucks, but there's not much competition i'm aware of - so early ads were a dominated space. I eat those ads up if it's a product area i care about. (and i really love heated coffee lol)
- david422 5y ago
  It can be mutually beneficial too though. You get something, the company gets something.

cko 5y ago

Years ago I saw an ad on Facebook for a merino wool sneaker. It looked clean and minimalistic. I happened to enjoy wearing shoes without socks, so I clicked on the link and immediately bought a pair of Allbirds. (Years later I read that Allbirds is part of the SV tech worker uniform.) Also I definitely have clicked on those marketing email newsletters and made purchases based on those. In case I sound like a major consumer, I will mention that I managed to live in New Jersey for 8 years spending $1200 a month. That's rent, food, transportation, and impulse buys.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

burnished 5y ago

If you think of advertising as being "see ad -> buy thing", well, it may have worked on you if you needed that thing. That's not a crazy idea right? Advertising purely as a form of product discovery? Then, beyond that, you can get into the stuff that uses observations about basic human psychology. It might be arrogance to consider yourself above human weakness. You are probably familiar with the strategy of brand awareness? All else being equal you are more likely to purchase a product that is familiar to you. If you see an advertisement for a product, even if you try to form a negative emotional attachment immediately, the emotional tenor will fade but the familiarity will remain. I'm not going to say every form of advertising is effective, probably a lot of the web stuff that can be gamed is gamed and thus less effective, but I'd be cautious assuming it won't work on you (or anyone else for that matter).