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Watch "the economics of happiness" if you think there's nothing wrong with advertising. Sure, maybe it can be done without manipulating people's self-image into

Watch "the economics of happiness" if you think there's nothing wrong with advertising. Sure, maybe it can be done without manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough, but if you're into maximizing revenue you're not going to simply advertise "here's our invention, take it or leave it" https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1687905/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1687905/

alganet 2y ago
I believe there's nothing _inherently_ wrong with advertising. > but if you're into maximizing revenue In the space of ideas, there is a way for advertisement to exist without revenue. Even without money! > manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough You can do all of that _without_ advertising.
- SllX 2y ago
  > You can do all of that _without_ advertising. I want to double-emphasize this. Most advertising sucks, but the effect it has on people is not unique to advertising. Given your five senses, you are being consistently and constantly blasted with information people want to put in front of you in the hopes of effecting your future behavior in a way that makes you think that you’ve talked yourself into it. But given a non-intrusive ad that isn’t trying to also surveil you and isn’t making demands on your attention, they can be informative. The problem is that non-intrusive ads that don’t make demands on your time and attention don’t support advertising-reliant companies with market caps as big as TV broadcasters, and if you want to also be as big as Google or Facebook, you also need the surveillance aspect of it, so if we ever get our shit together as a society and do something about that and they haven’t diversified their revenue streams sufficiently, they’re in for a very bad time.
- _factor 2y ago
  I can’t think of any positives of advertising that are not solely to the benefit of the advertiser. That knife you bought because it looked cool, not the sharpest or most suited for your tasks. Cheerios aren’t really good for your heart. Dentists don’t universally recommend your flavored grain-infused fluoride paste. It’s legalized lying where high end marketing companies are so good at it you might as well not try with a small budget. It’s not just bad from any angle, it’s also entrenched.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
listenallyall 2y ago
> manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough Unfortunately, social media is much more effective at ruining people's self-image and happiness than advertisers could ever dream to be
- drawkward 2y ago
  what is the type of social media you are citing but advertising by a different name?
  - listenallyall 2y ago
    I think it is reasonably well-documented that social media contributes to people feeling like they are less happy, less accomplished, less upwardly-mobile, less smart or influential than peers. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook all tend to show people succeeding at careers, relationships, investing, leisure, and non-stop exposure to all of that - despite lots of it being fake, staged, insincere - reduces the viewer's self image.
BrenBarn 2y ago
> Sure, maybe it can be done without manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough, but if you're into maximizing revenue you're not going to simply advertise "here's our invention, take it or leave it" Well, yes, that's it exactly. The problem is not advertising, it's trying to maximize revenue. That is the virus that is killing our world.

alganet 2y ago

I believe there's nothing _inherently_ wrong with advertising. > but if you're into maximizing revenue In the space of ideas, there is a way for advertisement to exist without revenue. Even without money! > manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough You can do all of that _without_ advertising.

SllX 2y ago
> You can do all of that _without_ advertising. I want to double-emphasize this. Most advertising sucks, but the effect it has on people is not unique to advertising. Given your five senses, you are being consistently and constantly blasted with information people want to put in front of you in the hopes of effecting your future behavior in a way that makes you think that you’ve talked yourself into it. But given a non-intrusive ad that isn’t trying to also surveil you and isn’t making demands on your attention, they can be informative. The problem is that non-intrusive ads that don’t make demands on your time and attention don’t support advertising-reliant companies with market caps as big as TV broadcasters, and if you want to also be as big as Google or Facebook, you also need the surveillance aspect of it, so if we ever get our shit together as a society and do something about that and they haven’t diversified their revenue streams sufficiently, they’re in for a very bad time.
_factor 2y ago
I can’t think of any positives of advertising that are not solely to the benefit of the advertiser. That knife you bought because it looked cool, not the sharpest or most suited for your tasks. Cheerios aren’t really good for your heart. Dentists don’t universally recommend your flavored grain-infused fluoride paste. It’s legalized lying where high end marketing companies are so good at it you might as well not try with a small budget. It’s not just bad from any angle, it’s also entrenched.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

listenallyall 2y ago

> manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough Unfortunately, social media is much more effective at ruining people's self-image and happiness than advertisers could ever dream to be

drawkward 2y ago
what is the type of social media you are citing but advertising by a different name?
- listenallyall 2y ago
  I think it is reasonably well-documented that social media contributes to people feeling like they are less happy, less accomplished, less upwardly-mobile, less smart or influential than peers. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook all tend to show people succeeding at careers, relationships, investing, leisure, and non-stop exposure to all of that - despite lots of it being fake, staged, insincere - reduces the viewer's self image.

BrenBarn 2y ago

> Sure, maybe it can be done without manipulating people's self-image into thinking they're not good enough, not beautiful enough, not wealthy enough, but if you're into maximizing revenue you're not going to simply advertise "here's our invention, take it or leave it" Well, yes, that's it exactly. The problem is not advertising, it's trying to maximize revenue. That is the virus that is killing our world.