The narrative that "if it sells it means people want it" has been used for a long time (e.g. cigarettes). Of course, that simplistic take ignores the (1) role t

The narrative that "if it sells it means people want it" has been used for a long time (e.g. cigarettes). Of course, that simplistic take ignores the (1) role that advertising plays in manufacturing those desires in the first place, and (2) the fact that consumers often don't have a choice. Relating to (2): everyone I know complains about the state of modern Web (from my tech friends to my mum) one way or the other. They simply have no choice because, as mentioned several times in these comments, even tech people have an incredibly hard time extricating themselves from dark patterns and SEO-hell search results and surveillance and AI-generated listicles... let alone regular people!