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If that was what advertisement was all about, maybe we wouldn't care so much. But in the majority of cases those advertisements are lies. Fake photos, fake rev

If that was what advertisement was all about, maybe we wouldn't care so much. But in the majority of cases those advertisements are lies. Fake photos, fake reviews, fake claims, fake everything. I can't justify accepting all that lying just to "get your word out". That's not what's being done. Paid placements are already ubiquitous. The restaurant example is all about the small company, which already gets screwed with current marketing landscape. They put tons of money into a black box with Google/Meta Ads hoping it'll work. They say X amount of people saw your ad, most of the times you can't track any real effect from these ads, and you have to accept it. The recent issues with YouTube counting ads incorrectly is most certainly not a unique incident and we have no clue what's actually happening. Maybe if all we had were these small local businesses advertising it could actually be useful. After all, those are not the ones collecting copious amounts of data violating everyone's privacy for the sole purpose of selling ads. Perhaps a version of opt-in ads or trustworthy places where you can get real recommendations are the way to go. But because of ads and SEO now this was also destroyed. I find it infuriating that when you do want to buy something, you have to sift through so many garbage lists created for the sole purpose of showing ads and referrals. Ultimately you can only really trust a few experts sources for basically anything. The normal folks who fall for the "top X" list websites or the ads get screwed the same way because those are just another form of false advertisement. I don't know if there's a perfect solution here, but it damn well isn't the one we've got.

cj 3y ago
> Perhaps a version of opt-in ads or trustworthy places where you can get real recommendations are the way to go. Also unfortunate on the B2B side, sites like G2 and Capterra (basically yelp with B2B) have both turned into pay to play. Then again, I’m not even sure what a realistic business model would be for a unbiased review site. (Maybe the answer is it shouldn’t have a business model at all)
- Draiken 3y ago
  The profit motive inevitably destroys these types of businesses. There's a reason threads here on HN in the category of "what did you buy/read/do recently?" are so popular. People want reliable information that advertisement is definitely not giving us. Thinking about it, nothing beats recommendation from a known trusted individual. Be it for a restaurant, an appliance, a car, etc. This tells me how little advertising is about the discoverability of products/services. This creation of needs is 99.9% of the time unnecessary. It's only there because people want to sell regardless of how useless their product is. If people need something, they will search for it.

cj 3y ago

> Perhaps a version of opt-in ads or trustworthy places where you can get real recommendations are the way to go. Also unfortunate on the B2B side, sites like G2 and Capterra (basically yelp with B2B) have both turned into pay to play. Then again, I’m not even sure what a realistic business model would be for a unbiased review site. (Maybe the answer is it shouldn’t have a business model at all)

Draiken 3y ago
The profit motive inevitably destroys these types of businesses. There's a reason threads here on HN in the category of "what did you buy/read/do recently?" are so popular. People want reliable information that advertisement is definitely not giving us. Thinking about it, nothing beats recommendation from a known trusted individual. Be it for a restaurant, an appliance, a car, etc. This tells me how little advertising is about the discoverability of products/services. This creation of needs is 99.9% of the time unnecessary. It's only there because people want to sell regardless of how useless their product is. If people need something, they will search for it.