3 ms·

ads are always manipulation, and often deception.

by rolph 2y ago

verdverm 2y ago
To Sell Is Human (book) When you convince your kids to brush their teeth, that is manipulation. How many times have you used deception with them to get them to do something? Ads can be for public benefit, like the anti-smoking and drunk driving ads
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > How many times have you used deception with them to get them to do something? Never. I have certainly manipulated them, but never deceived them. In the case of children, manipulation is an important part of parenting until they reach a certain level of maturity. Companies doing this to increase their profits isn't in the same ballpark.
- marssaxman 2y ago
  The loss of public-service ads would be a small thing compared to the benefit gained by eliminating all ads, were such a thing possible! But of course we would just go back to the kind of world where aggressive, persistent hawkers get in your face on every street, as one can still experience in many low-income countries, and that would not be an improvement. Something I genuinely appreciate about the modern ad landscape is that I can almost entirely protect myself from it, via automation.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > we would just go back to the kind of world where aggressive, persistent hawkers get in your face on every street In all fairness, that's what we have right now. It's just that the hawkers are ad companies and they use mass media instead of going to the trouble and expense of having live humans doing it. But the end result is the same.
    - marssaxman 2y ago
      There is a key difference: if I went for a walk in the Marrakesh medina, there is no magical headset I could wear which would silence all the hawkers and make them invisible. In the electronic world, by contrast, I can easily ignore all broadcast media, use the web instead, and let robots filter out all the ads, leaving me free to browse in peace.

3 ms·

ads are always manipulation, and often deception.

by rolph 2y ago

ads are always manipulation, and often deception.

verdverm 2y ago
To Sell Is Human (book) When you convince your kids to brush their teeth, that is manipulation. How many times have you used deception with them to get them to do something? Ads can be for public benefit, like the anti-smoking and drunk driving ads
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > How many times have you used deception with them to get them to do something? Never. I have certainly manipulated them, but never deceived them. In the case of children, manipulation is an important part of parenting until they reach a certain level of maturity. Companies doing this to increase their profits isn't in the same ballpark.
- marssaxman 2y ago
  The loss of public-service ads would be a small thing compared to the benefit gained by eliminating all ads, were such a thing possible! But of course we would just go back to the kind of world where aggressive, persistent hawkers get in your face on every street, as one can still experience in many low-income countries, and that would not be an improvement. Something I genuinely appreciate about the modern ad landscape is that I can almost entirely protect myself from it, via automation.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > we would just go back to the kind of world where aggressive, persistent hawkers get in your face on every street In all fairness, that's what we have right now. It's just that the hawkers are ad companies and they use mass media instead of going to the trouble and expense of having live humans doing it. But the end result is the same.
    - marssaxman 2y ago
      There is a key difference: if I went for a walk in the Marrakesh medina, there is no magical headset I could wear which would silence all the hawkers and make them invisible. In the electronic world, by contrast, I can easily ignore all broadcast media, use the web instead, and let robots filter out all the ads, leaving me free to browse in peace.