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The entire advertisement industry racket is a case of an emperor with no clothes, a problem looking for a problem. Products should not be forced upon peopl

The entire advertisement ~~industry~~ racket is a case of an emperor with no clothes, a problem looking for a problem. Products should not be forced upon people at random times. All advertising should be replaced by opt-in directories with better indexing and filtering systems that let people search for what they want, when they want. “I want to see games like Dark Souls but in 2D with pixel art and a soundtrack like Blade Runner” Instead of mass-raping everyone’s privacy just to guess what people want, let people tell companies what they want. Instead of manipulating people with false impressions, products should stand out on their merits not on their marketing budgets. Honestly just banning all advertisement outright would snuff so many ills of society: coerced consumption, waste of resources, waste of time, uglification of public spaces, invasion of privacy, jobs whose sole purpose is to deceive, and other bullshit.

george0812 5y ago
I'd like to think that the need for advertising is just a bug in capitalism and eventually it'll go away.
- Razengan 5y ago
  It’s a feature by now, that successive versions of the system are actually built around and upon. Like “rocket jumping” in FPS games: Moving ahead by harming yourself, hah
- LegitShady 5y ago
  advertising took over capitalism, rather than going away it's driving.
- grog454 5y ago
  What system do you envision for bringing awareness of your product to new customers? Or do you just mean traditional advertisement and not marketing in general (ex: paid or incentivized product reviews). From the advertiser's perspective, if I can spend $x to acquire a user with an LTV (lifetime value) of $y, and $x < $y, why would I not? How would you prevent it? I like to think that I'm immune to advertising, and I suspect a lot of people here think that way too, but the bottom line is that it does work well enough on enough people to yield a positive ROI in many, many situations.
  - chowells 5y ago
    Why do you think your new product deserves customer awareness? Why is it so important to impose yourself upon the awareness of others? How is doing that with a goal of acquiring money even slightly morally acceptable?
    - fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
      If I figured out how to do something for $1 and it provides $3 worth of utility, how is it immoral to pay some money to inform people so they can get that $2 of extra utility in their lives by making that trade? As far as I’m concerned, stopping me from running that ad is morally equivalent to destroying the mail sorting machines at USPS.
      - chowells 5y ago
        You don't need advertising if you have a useful product. You only need discoverability. Advertising is an industry of mental pollution. It exists explicitly to convincing people they need to buy a product. If they don't know they need to buy it without being convinced, they don't actually need to buy it. It is literally not worth $2 to me to have your junk injected into my brain. This isn't personal of course. I don't even know how useless your junk is. But the fact is, if you're selling a thing, I don't need it. I have more things than I need. I need less. I'd pay $2 to not own your thing specifically because I don't want more things. And that's not even getting into the real issues with advertising. Advertising is a lot more than your argument claims. It isn't just notification of a product's existence. Advertising is specifically convincing people to buy your thing. Maybe informing people of your product's existence will get some sales. But you'll get a lot more sales if you convince people they want your product. And you'll succeed at that a lot more easily if you attack statistical psychological weaknesses than if you just list product features. This isn't an accident, and it isn't going off the rails. It's what advertising will always become, because it's effective. Your argument is along the lines of "well I won't abuse it." That's completely irrelevant, unless you're the only person allowed to advertise in the whole world. It really doesn't matter what your goals are. It matters what the effect of the policies you recommend are, and advertising has well-documented negative societal impact. As long as you don't engage with the actual problems with advertising in your arguments, your arguments aren't addressing my point. If you actually want to address my point, tell me how you can fix the negative societal impact while still allowing advertising.

The entire advertisement ~~industry~~ racket is a case of an emperor with no clothes, a problem looking for a problem. Products should not be forced upon peopl

george0812 5y ago

I'd like to think that the need for advertising is just a bug in capitalism and eventually it'll go away.

Razengan 5y ago
It’s a feature by now, that successive versions of the system are actually built around and upon. Like “rocket jumping” in FPS games: Moving ahead by harming yourself, hah
LegitShady 5y ago
advertising took over capitalism, rather than going away it's driving.
grog454 5y ago
What system do you envision for bringing awareness of your product to new customers? Or do you just mean traditional advertisement and not marketing in general (ex: paid or incentivized product reviews). From the advertiser's perspective, if I can spend $x to acquire a user with an LTV (lifetime value) of $y, and $x < $y, why would I not? How would you prevent it? I like to think that I'm immune to advertising, and I suspect a lot of people here think that way too, but the bottom line is that it does work well enough on enough people to yield a positive ROI in many, many situations.
- chowells 5y ago
  Why do you think your new product deserves customer awareness? Why is it so important to impose yourself upon the awareness of others? How is doing that with a goal of acquiring money even slightly morally acceptable?
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
    If I figured out how to do something for $1 and it provides $3 worth of utility, how is it immoral to pay some money to inform people so they can get that $2 of extra utility in their lives by making that trade? As far as I’m concerned, stopping me from running that ad is morally equivalent to destroying the mail sorting machines at USPS.
    - chowells 5y ago
      You don't need advertising if you have a useful product. You only need discoverability. Advertising is an industry of mental pollution. It exists explicitly to convincing people they need to buy a product. If they don't know they need to buy it without being convinced, they don't actually need to buy it. It is literally not worth $2 to me to have your junk injected into my brain. This isn't personal of course. I don't even know how useless your junk is. But the fact is, if you're selling a thing, I don't need it. I have more things than I need. I need less. I'd pay $2 to not own your thing specifically because I don't want more things. And that's not even getting into the real issues with advertising. Advertising is a lot more than your argument claims. It isn't just notification of a product's existence. Advertising is specifically convincing people to buy your thing. Maybe informing people of your product's existence will get some sales. But you'll get a lot more sales if you convince people they want your product. And you'll succeed at that a lot more easily if you attack statistical psychological weaknesses than if you just list product features. This isn't an accident, and it isn't going off the rails. It's what advertising will always become, because it's effective. Your argument is along the lines of "well I won't abuse it." That's completely irrelevant, unless you're the only person allowed to advertise in the whole world. It really doesn't matter what your goals are. It matters what the effect of the policies you recommend are, and advertising has well-documented negative societal impact. As long as you don't engage with the actual problems with advertising in your arguments, your arguments aren't addressing my point. If you actually want to address my point, tell me how you can fix the negative societal impact while still allowing advertising.