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So the author was anti-advertising as a consumer, but now is pro-advertising as an advertiser. Sounds about right.

Spivak 5y ago
I mean the less-cynical take is now that the author actually understands the reality of the business instead of the warped outsider's perception it doesn't seem half as evil as he was made to believe. I can respect that.
- tomp 5y ago
  The best kind of businesses are those where the pipeline is distributed and each participant can keep telling themselves they’re definitely the good guys.
- danachow 5y ago
  The outsider perspective of (especially online) advertising or for those that work with it is overtly rotten and “evil” - it’s doesn’t follow that somehow it’s better on the inside. It isn’t a sausage factory, it’s a sewage treatment plant.
  - mananaysiempre 5y ago
    Anecdote unrelated to your point: I’ve grown up close to a sewage treatment plant and have been taken on a couple hours’ tour of it in middle school. And what do you know, while there is a faint odour in the air (much weaker than, say, near a barn or a stable, but it’s there), it’s one of the most sparkling-clean, meticulously organized workplaces I’ve seen before or since. I’ve been to chemistry labs with worse plumbing and more clutter than that, let alone industrial facilities. I mean, it’s not that surprising in hindsight—if it’s clean everything or drown in literal shit, you bet it’s going to be clean. But it’s definitely not what I expected. (Probably helps they didn’t get their funding or wages cut while the surrounding country was falling apart, chemistry labs and all, for the same reason.)
    - hutzlibu 5y ago
      I highly respect the workers of sewage treatment plants, because I could never work there, without having my smell sense removed. But there are differences to the plants, I think you can make them enclosed and allmost smell less. But the one in my area does not have that tech and they stink.
- badRNG 5y ago
  He directly acknowledges that his piece doesn't address "more salient concerns with advertising," and I'd go as far as to say it doesn't address any of the biggest concerns. Insert some variation of "It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It" here.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  A counter-anecdote: I went into the advertising field neutral to the profession, and the more I learned about it the more I disliked it, to the point of disdain. Leaving the industry was the best career choice I've ever made. It's an abusive industry that somehow manages to be very self-congratulatory. The saddest part of this for me is that there are some incredibly talented people wasting all their energy making ads for oil companies and health insurers. Though, I suppose that happens everywhere... everyone needs to make a buck.
  - wpietri 5y ago
    Yup. I consulted for an advertiser for a while. "Never again," said I. I think of it as a filtering function. Many people go in. But the ones who stay are the ones ok making a living from manipulating folks to do whatever people with money want.
wpietri 5y ago
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

I mean the less-cynical take is now that the author actually understands the reality of the business instead of the warped outsider's perception it doesn't seem half as evil as he was made to believe. I can respect that.

tomp 5y ago
The best kind of businesses are those where the pipeline is distributed and each participant can keep telling themselves they’re definitely the good guys.
danachow 5y ago
The outsider perspective of (especially online) advertising or for those that work with it is overtly rotten and “evil” - it’s doesn’t follow that somehow it’s better on the inside. It isn’t a sausage factory, it’s a sewage treatment plant.
- mananaysiempre 5y ago
  Anecdote unrelated to your point: I’ve grown up close to a sewage treatment plant and have been taken on a couple hours’ tour of it in middle school. And what do you know, while there is a faint odour in the air (much weaker than, say, near a barn or a stable, but it’s there), it’s one of the most sparkling-clean, meticulously organized workplaces I’ve seen before or since. I’ve been to chemistry labs with worse plumbing and more clutter than that, let alone industrial facilities. I mean, it’s not that surprising in hindsight—if it’s clean everything or drown in literal shit, you bet it’s going to be clean. But it’s definitely not what I expected. (Probably helps they didn’t get their funding or wages cut while the surrounding country was falling apart, chemistry labs and all, for the same reason.)
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    I highly respect the workers of sewage treatment plants, because I could never work there, without having my smell sense removed. But there are differences to the plants, I think you can make them enclosed and allmost smell less. But the one in my area does not have that tech and they stink.
badRNG 5y ago
He directly acknowledges that his piece doesn't address "more salient concerns with advertising," and I'd go as far as to say it doesn't address any of the biggest concerns. Insert some variation of "It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It" here.
micromacrofoot 5y ago
A counter-anecdote: I went into the advertising field neutral to the profession, and the more I learned about it the more I disliked it, to the point of disdain. Leaving the industry was the best career choice I've ever made. It's an abusive industry that somehow manages to be very self-congratulatory. The saddest part of this for me is that there are some incredibly talented people wasting all their energy making ads for oil companies and health insurers. Though, I suppose that happens everywhere... everyone needs to make a buck.
- wpietri 5y ago
  Yup. I consulted for an advertiser for a while. "Never again," said I. I think of it as a filtering function. Many people go in. But the ones who stay are the ones ok making a living from manipulating folks to do whatever people with money want.

wpietri 5y ago

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]