4 ms·

Wait until you realize advertising should not be allowed.

allenrb 3y ago
I can’t see how this deserves to be downvoted. As far as I’m concerned, anything other than “just the facts, ma’am” advertising is about preying on human weakness. It’s legal, but is it right?
- jjeaff 3y ago
  I don't think it is correct to say all advertising is preying on human weakness. Some people create good and beneficial products. advertising is how you get the word out about your product.
  - alexashka 3y ago
    Just have a website/app/whatever that displays a database of products and information about each, comparisons, etc. There is no excuse for invading people's lives with unasked for media of any kind. People who want to know about new products can go to places where such information is available and seek it out.
  - weaksauce 3y ago
    > Some people create good and beneficial products. and those would shine with a "just the facts ma'am" approach.
    - jjeaff 3y ago
      If you put a commercial on TV with "just the facts" it's still an ad.
      - tekknik 3y ago
        if you make a useful product it will be found regardless
        kortilla 3y ago
        That doesn’t work outside of mass market products.
        Aerbil313 3y ago
        Not in the age of internet. It does work. People asking in reddit and internet forums (word-of-mouth) is what it is. If there is a need, humankind will get around to satisfy it. Even if it doesn't work enough to satisfy the need, someone will scrape the web to create a database of every product being sold and put an LLM with embedding search in front of it to make it work. Probably Google. Ah, but turns out there is money to be made with advertising. As a counterpoint, %99 of the ads I see are companies I already know about. I'm seeing the ads of same services of the same set of companies every year since I got a smartphone. Ads are just manipulation through creating familiarity through repetition.
        tekknik 3y ago
        Sure it does, people ask others all the time about a solution to a very specific problem.
  - Terr_ 3y ago
    The real problem is where to draw the line, which is partly cultural. There's a similar concept in legal contracts, with "unconscionable" terms.
none_to_remain 3y ago
If you really believed in that idea you wouldn't go on news.ycombinator.com to advertise it

I can’t see how this deserves to be downvoted. As far as I’m concerned, anything other than “just the facts, ma’am” advertising is about preying on human weakness. It’s legal, but is it right?

jjeaff 3y ago
I don't think it is correct to say all advertising is preying on human weakness. Some people create good and beneficial products. advertising is how you get the word out about your product.
- alexashka 3y ago
  Just have a website/app/whatever that displays a database of products and information about each, comparisons, etc. There is no excuse for invading people's lives with unasked for media of any kind. People who want to know about new products can go to places where such information is available and seek it out.
- weaksauce 3y ago
  > Some people create good and beneficial products. and those would shine with a "just the facts ma'am" approach.
  - jjeaff 3y ago
    If you put a commercial on TV with "just the facts" it's still an ad.
    - tekknik 3y ago
      if you make a useful product it will be found regardless
      - kortilla 3y ago
        That doesn’t work outside of mass market products.
        Aerbil313 3y ago
        Not in the age of internet. It does work. People asking in reddit and internet forums (word-of-mouth) is what it is. If there is a need, humankind will get around to satisfy it. Even if it doesn't work enough to satisfy the need, someone will scrape the web to create a database of every product being sold and put an LLM with embedding search in front of it to make it work. Probably Google. Ah, but turns out there is money to be made with advertising. As a counterpoint, %99 of the ads I see are companies I already know about. I'm seeing the ads of same services of the same set of companies every year since I got a smartphone. Ads are just manipulation through creating familiarity through repetition.
        tekknik 3y ago
        Sure it does, people ask others all the time about a solution to a very specific problem.
- Terr_ 3y ago
  The real problem is where to draw the line, which is partly cultural. There's a similar concept in legal contracts, with "unconscionable" terms.

none_to_remain 3y ago

If you really believed in that idea you wouldn't go on news.ycombinator.com to advertise it