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This particular quote isn't about advertising, but its something Steve Jobs said that reminded me of your post. "When you're young, you look at television and

This particular quote isn't about advertising, but its something Steve Jobs said that reminded me of your post. "When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth."

waxymonkeyfrog 15y ago
Great/scary quote
larrik 15y ago
That quote is basically the entire premise of Fahrenheit 451.
vannevar 15y ago
The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. No, the networks are in business to create desire. As a rule, people generally want what their peers want, so the chief goal of advertising is to create the impression that everyone wants the product. The very act of putting it in a prominent place is the first step, since everyone seeing it knows that everyone else is also seeing it.
- vannevar 15y ago
  In response to the anonymous downvoters, it's quite clear that in a competitive market, settling for giving the people what they want is inadequate. You have to make them want what you're selling. As someone pointed out above, many consumer goods are essentially identical and are distinguished chiefly by their marketing efforts. And even with Apple's own products, one might wonder whether the exact same product introduced by say, Dell or HP, would've been as successful. Contrary to popular belief, the market isn't a simple system of people with inherent needs meeting those with products, but a complex web of collective psychology driven by a combination of the social network and mass media.
  - AllenKids 15y ago
    To put it in a slightly hyperbolic yet entirely honest way: I want Apple (or brand of your choice) to make decisions for me; to tell me what I want and what I want more; to assure me my decisions are unequivocally right and indeed, mine. In this my desire for desires is validated, encouraged and fulfilled. We need to go deeper. It just works™

waxymonkeyfrog 15y ago

Great/scary quote

larrik 15y ago

That quote is basically the entire premise of Fahrenheit 451.

vannevar 15y ago

The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. No, the networks are in business to create desire. As a rule, people generally want what their peers want, so the chief goal of advertising is to create the impression that everyone wants the product. The very act of putting it in a prominent place is the first step, since everyone seeing it knows that everyone else is also seeing it.

vannevar 15y ago
In response to the anonymous downvoters, it's quite clear that in a competitive market, settling for giving the people what they want is inadequate. You have to make them want what you're selling. As someone pointed out above, many consumer goods are essentially identical and are distinguished chiefly by their marketing efforts. And even with Apple's own products, one might wonder whether the exact same product introduced by say, Dell or HP, would've been as successful. Contrary to popular belief, the market isn't a simple system of people with inherent needs meeting those with products, but a complex web of collective psychology driven by a combination of the social network and mass media.
- AllenKids 15y ago
  To put it in a slightly hyperbolic yet entirely honest way: I want Apple (or brand of your choice) to make decisions for me; to tell me what I want and what I want more; to assure me my decisions are unequivocally right and indeed, mine. In this my desire for desires is validated, encouraged and fulfilled. We need to go deeper. It just works™