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We need to start a social movement to punish advertisers. Ads are pernicious and pervasive thought manipulation which systemically decrease the life satisfact

by cwkoss 4y ago

We need to start a social movement to punish advertisers. Ads are pernicious and pervasive thought manipulation which systemically decrease the life satisfaction of nearly every person in society. It is a cancer. We should strive to make anyone who gets manipulated into changing their behavior based on an ad they saw feel ashamed and stupid for falling for their tricks, and angry at the advertisers for manipulating them.

kibwen 4y ago
Say it louder: ads are socially-acceptable, corporate-sponsored brainwashing.
thr0wawayf00 4y ago
> We should strive to make anyone who gets manipulated into changing their behavior based on an ad they saw feel ashamed and stupid for falling for their tricks, This sounds great, but: A) how do you know/can you prove that you've been manipulated? B) How do we know that we haven't all been manipulated? (After all, millions of people bought into this ecosystem to get away from ads, I think every person who's angry has a case that they've been manipulated) and C) where is this social movement gonna take place? Social media, the bastion of internet advertising? The answer is make tech less important in our lives. There's been a pattern going back decades that technology grows in scale and utility and eventually becomes corporatized to that point that it generates more income to work against its users. The answer is to live a lower tech life. Less time on phones and apps and more time in the real world.
- kornhole 4y ago
  That is an option but not tenable to most people in our modern world. How do you become informed about our world and people we care about far away without computer tech?. The better solution is free software we control and better ways to fund developers and journalists.
kajaktum 4y ago
>We need to start a social movement to punish advertisers. Ads are pernicious and pervasive thought manipulation which systemically decrease the life satisfaction of nearly every person in society. It is a cancer. Will never happen until we can dispel the notion that human are free agents. People will never give up this believe about themselves. Meanwhile, it's proven to be effective by virtue of it being a trillion dollar industry or something. Same thing with gambling.
massysett 4y ago
Advertising is incredibly useful to me and I routinely seek it out. - I own a home that routinely needs services. Ads help me find willing businesses. - I own a car that needs tires. Just yesterday I looked at ads for those selling them. - I like to buy art for my house. Ads in apps like Etsy pop up things that might interest me. - Sometimes I look for a new job. Enough said on that one. Believe it or not ads exist because they perform a useful social function.
- int_19h 4y ago
  All your examples are far better served by opt-in "sign me up for new/interesting stuff on X" model.
  - massysett 4y ago
    No. I do not want a stream of emails from tire vendors.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      That particular case is even more removed from push ads - it's something that you'd normally go and search for, not sit around and wait until the right ad shows up.
      - massysett 4y ago
        Post I responded to made numerous assertions about "ads". There was no qualification for "push ads".
        int_19h 4y ago
        Fair enough. I think that push model is what people actually hate about ads. But then again, what percentage of ads is the kind you have to actively go and look for?
- cwkoss 4y ago

by cwkoss 4y ago

kibwen 4y ago

Say it louder: ads are socially-acceptable, corporate-sponsored brainwashing.

thr0wawayf00 4y ago

> We should strive to make anyone who gets manipulated into changing their behavior based on an ad they saw feel ashamed and stupid for falling for their tricks, This sounds great, but: A) how do you know/can you prove that you've been manipulated? B) How do we know that we haven't all been manipulated? (After all, millions of people bought into this ecosystem to get away from ads, I think every person who's angry has a case that they've been manipulated) and C) where is this social movement gonna take place? Social media, the bastion of internet advertising? The answer is make tech less important in our lives. There's been a pattern going back decades that technology grows in scale and utility and eventually becomes corporatized to that point that it generates more income to work against its users. The answer is to live a lower tech life. Less time on phones and apps and more time in the real world.

kornhole 4y ago
That is an option but not tenable to most people in our modern world. How do you become informed about our world and people we care about far away without computer tech?. The better solution is free software we control and better ways to fund developers and journalists.

kajaktum 4y ago

>We need to start a social movement to punish advertisers. Ads are pernicious and pervasive thought manipulation which systemically decrease the life satisfaction of nearly every person in society. It is a cancer. Will never happen until we can dispel the notion that human are free agents. People will never give up this believe about themselves. Meanwhile, it's proven to be effective by virtue of it being a trillion dollar industry or something. Same thing with gambling.

massysett 4y ago

Advertising is incredibly useful to me and I routinely seek it out. - I own a home that routinely needs services. Ads help me find willing businesses. - I own a car that needs tires. Just yesterday I looked at ads for those selling them. - I like to buy art for my house. Ads in apps like Etsy pop up things that might interest me. - Sometimes I look for a new job. Enough said on that one. Believe it or not ads exist because they perform a useful social function.

int_19h 4y ago
All your examples are far better served by opt-in "sign me up for new/interesting stuff on X" model.
- massysett 4y ago
  No. I do not want a stream of emails from tire vendors.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    That particular case is even more removed from push ads - it's something that you'd normally go and search for, not sit around and wait until the right ad shows up.
    - massysett 4y ago
      Post I responded to made numerous assertions about "ads". There was no qualification for "push ads".
      - int_19h 4y ago
        Fair enough. I think that push model is what people actually hate about ads. But then again, what percentage of ads is the kind you have to actively go and look for?
cwkoss 4y ago