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Ads synthesize desire and cause people to be unhappy when the ads work. They encourage expending money that could have been saved, or taking on debt. They also

Ads synthesize desire and cause people to be unhappy when the ads work. They encourage expending money that could have been saved, or taking on debt. They also create a funding situation where media producers are beholden to corporations. The implementation of ads is also wildly invasive, creepy, and propagandistic. However, focusing on implementation allows ad salesmen to lessen the sharpness of the criticism by supposing there is some "nice" way this could be done.

bryan_w 5y ago
Ads aren't inherently trying to make people unhappy (at least the good ones). Ads in the best case, are just informing a person about the existence of a thing. There have been many ads that I've found useful, not because of some evil mind games, but rather because i didn't know of a company providing such a service. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with expending money for things that are valuable. That kinda seems like the whole point of money.
- tehjoker 5y ago
  The idea of an ad is that it says you don't have this thing. Your life will be so much better if only you had this thing. In some cases, that makes sense, but mostly it serves to reset people's expectations and become dissatisfied with what they have. I think in many cases we should be aiming to do that for social fundamentals that would make all of us live richer and happier lives like healthcare and education, but it has a lot of negative consequences in consumer products which are more individualistic, competitive, and status oriented.
  - bentcorner 5y ago
    While I hate ads, it's impossible to live in a world without it. Because even at the most extreme, where there are no ads, even the most minimal difference like location or appearance has value. Consider the simple example of a grocery store - what products do they place at eye level? What products do they place closer to the entrance? What color does P&G make their detergent bottle? What do they call it? It's all "advertising", and there's no practical way to prevent it. The alternative is that everything is packaged in the same sized gray box and described in perfectly utilitarian terms. So advertising will always exist. We just need to know where to draw the line.
    - tehjoker 5y ago
      Certainly, but the line that has been drawn can be characterized as insane since the 1960s at least.
- chrischen 5y ago
  Ads are a corruption of organic discovery though. Yes it could help you but say person A hocks product 1 because they are paid, even though product 2 is actually superior for you. Ads corrupt their incentives. Even if product 1 is good for you, product 2 is better. Product 1 ends up succeeding because they decide to play the game of corrupted promotion.

bryan_w 5y ago

Ads aren't inherently trying to make people unhappy (at least the good ones). Ads in the best case, are just informing a person about the existence of a thing. There have been many ads that I've found useful, not because of some evil mind games, but rather because i didn't know of a company providing such a service. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with expending money for things that are valuable. That kinda seems like the whole point of money.

tehjoker 5y ago
The idea of an ad is that it says you don't have this thing. Your life will be so much better if only you had this thing. In some cases, that makes sense, but mostly it serves to reset people's expectations and become dissatisfied with what they have. I think in many cases we should be aiming to do that for social fundamentals that would make all of us live richer and happier lives like healthcare and education, but it has a lot of negative consequences in consumer products which are more individualistic, competitive, and status oriented.
- bentcorner 5y ago
  While I hate ads, it's impossible to live in a world without it. Because even at the most extreme, where there are no ads, even the most minimal difference like location or appearance has value. Consider the simple example of a grocery store - what products do they place at eye level? What products do they place closer to the entrance? What color does P&G make their detergent bottle? What do they call it? It's all "advertising", and there's no practical way to prevent it. The alternative is that everything is packaged in the same sized gray box and described in perfectly utilitarian terms. So advertising will always exist. We just need to know where to draw the line.
  - tehjoker 5y ago
    Certainly, but the line that has been drawn can be characterized as insane since the 1960s at least.
chrischen 5y ago
Ads are a corruption of organic discovery though. Yes it could help you but say person A hocks product 1 because they are paid, even though product 2 is actually superior for you. Ads corrupt their incentives. Even if product 1 is good for you, product 2 is better. Product 1 ends up succeeding because they decide to play the game of corrupted promotion.