6 ms·

Advertising is a cancer on society, just 'cause it's sometimes nice to look at doesn't really change that. IMHO of course.

basisword 2y ago
I'm quite certain a fun video for a Sony Bravia TV from 20 years ago is not comparable to cancer in any way. It's ok to be happy from time to time :)
- mostlysimilar 2y ago
  Not sure if I'd call the relentless assault on my attention to convince me to purchase things "happy", but to each their own.
  - vincnetas 2y ago
    what is your preferred (ideal) way of being informed about possible beneficial proposals? ps i also hate ads and attention economy.
    - ok_dad 2y ago
      At this point in my life, I've realized that anything they advertise that is actually a new thing (not a TV or a toaster with slightly better features) is just going to be some consumable or gadget that I don't want or need. Most advertising I see is just for some soda or electronics brand which I already know about and do not want to buy. I don't think I could name a single ad that I've seen that is for a genuinely new product or service that was useful enough to me that I thought, "thank god they showed me this ad!"
      - foobarian 2y ago
        I've actually seen multiple such ads in the past year on Youtube. I found myself surprised to actually want to see it to the end while hovering over the Skip button. One was a bed Heater/Cooler gadget, another an ultrasonic cutter. There were also some doozies, like these "model v8 engines" that work very hard to hide the fact that they are powered by electric motors. We'll see how this year goes.
        mrguyorama 2y ago
        And for literal centuries, you could flip through magazines to look for those neat gadgets when you want to look for them, where they usually had a fairly simple ad that wasn't trying to trick you or play with your emotions or anything. Usually a spec sheet. When I want to know what kind of neat electronics I can play with my raspberry Pi, I don't sit around and wait for Youtube to show me ads, I browse the fucking store. When my dad wanted to start a pressure washing business in the early 2000s, he didn't wait for an ad on the radio, or see a billboard, he ordered a catalog from some pressure washing companies and browsed their offerings at his leisure In the 60s, if you ran a electronics lab, and you needed a new instrument to calibrate your new atomic clock, you would order an HP catalog and flip through their offerings, which included a basic description, a picture sometimes, and some specs. Notably, the old way primarily required you to start from a point of dissatisfaction, intentionally seek out information, and purchase a solution to an actual problem you have. The current days, advertising is all about convincing us with evolutionary brain tricks that we actually have so many problems. I'm tired of it.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
    - glial 2y ago
      Taking your question at face value, I would much prefer information be "pulled" rather than "pushed". In other words, I don't want to be informed - I want to search when I decide to search, get reviews when I decide to get reviews, etc. I don't want someone else deciding how my attention is diverted or what they would recommend for me. A notable exception is that I am happy to take unsolicited recommendations from friends and family, but that's because there is a critical distinction: they want to inform me of something for me, rather than for the product manufacturers.
    - sincerely 2y ago
      This argument for the theoretical benefit of advertising (being informed about products/services) was probably true at the point in time when advertising genuinely consisted of a dispassionate listing of the features of a product, and maybe a picture of it. Take the commercial being highlighted here for example. It's 2.5 minutes of a very cool visual image of the toy balls bouncing en masse. But how does a zillion balls bouncing down a hill convey anything meaningful about the television model it's an ad for? How do sexy models in a commercial for beer, perfume, etc inform the consumer about the product in any actual sense?
      - otterley 2y ago
        It might benefit you to take some marketing courses to understand why these sort of ads are effective and useful. Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean there's no rational explanation for it. (In general, it's a good rule of thumb to assume that the widespread existence of something suggests there's a reason for it, and to be inquisitive as to what that reason might be.)
        Symbiote 2y ago
        Effective and useful for Sony. They are detrimental to society as they increase consumption, waste, pollution etc.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
        jacobgkau 2y ago
        He didn't ask how these sorts of ads are effective or useful. He asked how they inform consumers, which was the point someone else previously brought up as a defense.
    - chgs 2y ago
      I would opt in. If adverts were for my benefit I would be able to choose them, rather than have to block them.
    - asdf6969 2y ago
      I like informative ads. Like old newspaper or magazine ads that are just a picture of the item and a few bullet points about what it offers. Ads like this post are manipulative and they weaponize psychology to make people buy things they wouldn’t want otherwise
  - andrewinardeer 2y ago
    Well, this is a TV add, so no one is forcing you to watch it. Billboards, on the other hand, are awful as your eyes are drawn to it as you drive down the freeway.
- jjulius 2y ago
  It encourages consumerism for the sake of consumerism and enables excessive e-waste. Sony has put forth plenty of effort since then to convince you that you've needed yet another new and shiny TV to replace the Bravia, and will continue to do the same. I truly don't understand the idea of praising a commercial that exists solely to sell you something we could probably, reasonably, be making and selling a lot less of. We only keep going "because growth". When's enough? This is gross. Edit: And after watching the video, it's extra jarring to me to feel the warm fuzzies it gives you, and then realize, "It's not asking me to be a good person or do something that's gonna match the feeling this commercial is giving me, it just wants me to buy something it's gonna want me to replace eventually". Ick. Get the fuck out of my emotions like that.
  - XenophileJKO 2y ago
    I feel like this is a very myopic perspective. It can be both art and a commercial at the same time and appreciable for either or both. As time progresses, it becomes more art than commercial because the commercial utility has expired. Commercials are interesting as they are a way to support artists financially. Many artists make a living in commercials while also getting a chance to exercise a creative profession. Conceptually it isn't that much different than church commissions during the Renaissance.
    - jjulius 2y ago
      As an artist, with a ton of artist friends, I wrestle with this idea very frequently. I understand the necessity for those who take that path, and I don't judge them for it (huge Jose Gonzalez fan, btw). Yet the ick remains.
      - scyzoryk_xyz 2y ago
        I would confirm the ick with my euro perspective. It’s a pattern I’ve noticed with Americans, this bundling up art with the capitalism. Commercial/Ad work can be a lot of fun and a good living for any artist, but it’s just not fucking art. It’s such a cringey pattern - that somehow makes commercial work into chivalrous patronage. That being said - cool ad! Fun to make and probably good money! Would love to work on something like that! But. Not. Art.
- ryandvm 2y ago
  OP is not talking about this ad in particular being cancer. He's talking about a couple million roadside billboards, ads on busses, ads in TV services you pay for, drug companies spending more on advertising than R&D, political machines driven by 24 hours news cycles that are funded from ragebait, social media companies that have us literally addicted to our screens due to their advertising-based revenue models. It goes on... ad infinitum indeed. It's a fucking cancer and it truly is the root of so many of our problems and we are running out of time to start thinking clearly about the damage the industrial advertising complex causes.
  - stickfigure 2y ago
    As we speak, there are large groups of people literally shooting each other to death. Advertising might be annoying, but not even on the top 100 list of major world problems. I hate to say "go touch grass" because it sounds condescending. But please, go outside and have some fun! The dumb billboard isn't stopping that.
    - riohumanbean 2y ago
      What is the point here? Don't complain about the ramifications of the advertising industry because wars exist? I'd be curious to see this Top 100 list.
      - stickfigure 2y ago
        The point is: Have some perspective. Advertising is not destroying the world and we're not "running out of time".
    - ziddoap 2y ago
      There is war, so nothing else is bad. >Advertising might be annoying, but not even on the top 100 list of major world problems. Hard disagree. Advertising, in some form, is likely the root or primary facilitator of probably 25 or more of those top 100. >because it sounds condescending. Your comment is condescending, yes.
    - 2y ago
- thih9 2y ago
  Yes. Then again, there’s Banksy’s take: > People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. (…) https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/461383-people-are-taking-the-piss-out-of-you-everyday-they https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/461383-people-are-taking-th...
- bondarchuk 2y ago
  >It's ok to be happy from time to time :) I'm perfectly fine doing that without 2005 Sony Bravia advertisement tyvm.
amelius 2y ago
+1 IMHO too.
encoderer 2y ago
Capitalism has saved billions of people from poverty. Advertising is part of that trade. I’m happy it exists.
- fracus 2y ago
  > Capitalism has saved billions of people from poverty. Unabated capitalism has more poverty than capitalism with social programs. Social programs save people from poverty. Also, capitalism can exist without advertising.
  - encoderer 2y ago
    It doesn’t need every form of advertising, but you can’t start a business if you can’t reach prospective customers, and if you can’t start a business then you don’t have capitalism.
- bdangubic 2y ago
  Capitalism has saved billions of people from poverty. You meant the EXACT opposite, right? :)
  - encoderer 2y ago
    No. Poverty is the default state. Capitalism creates inequality but it also reduces poverty.
jgalt212 2y ago
Someone has to move the product.
motoxpro 2y ago
There no way to find out about anything if people don't advertise. Make a website? Advertising. Wear a band T-Shirt? Advertising. Make a website called Hacker News as VC firm? Advertising.
- marssaxman 2y ago
  If you want to broaden the word "advertising" in such a dramatic way then I suppose it is your right as a human being to make up your own idiosyncratic dialect, but I think most of us see a pretty clear difference between advertising which is pushed on you whether you want it or not, and information which you go seek out when you want to know about it.
  - motoxpro 2y ago
    I guess my point is that "pushed on you whether you like it or not" is just a fact of if you re interested in said topic. Is it that you don't want an interruption? Because for the information to be out there, someone had to pay for it and at some point, it was pushed on someone who didn't care. I don't think I understand how any sort of commerce or awareness happens without advertising.
    - marssaxman 2y ago
      If I want something, I will go look for information about how to get it. If you want to call the information I have sought out "advertising", I suppose you can do that, though I would call it "reviews" or "datasheets", or perhaps at the most extreme "marketing materials". What I object to is the practice of tricking people into wanting things they otherwise felt no desire for by putting advertisements for them in places they will be seen while the victim is trying to do something else. Billboards are a blight, radio and TV ads are an intrusion, web banners are a nuisance. I filter them all out of my life as hard as I can, because I don't want people getting into my head and making me desire things I don't need. Ye olde hedonic treadmill never stops spinning, you know? Making a living by telling people to feel less satisfied with their lives, so they will want to fill the lack with whatever you are selling, does not seem very honorable.

basisword 2y ago

I'm quite certain a fun video for a Sony Bravia TV from 20 years ago is not comparable to cancer in any way. It's ok to be happy from time to time :)

mostlysimilar 2y ago
Not sure if I'd call the relentless assault on my attention to convince me to purchase things "happy", but to each their own.
- vincnetas 2y ago
  what is your preferred (ideal) way of being informed about possible beneficial proposals? ps i also hate ads and attention economy.
  - ok_dad 2y ago
    At this point in my life, I've realized that anything they advertise that is actually a new thing (not a TV or a toaster with slightly better features) is just going to be some consumable or gadget that I don't want or need. Most advertising I see is just for some soda or electronics brand which I already know about and do not want to buy. I don't think I could name a single ad that I've seen that is for a genuinely new product or service that was useful enough to me that I thought, "thank god they showed me this ad!"
    - foobarian 2y ago
      I've actually seen multiple such ads in the past year on Youtube. I found myself surprised to actually want to see it to the end while hovering over the Skip button. One was a bed Heater/Cooler gadget, another an ultrasonic cutter. There were also some doozies, like these "model v8 engines" that work very hard to hide the fact that they are powered by electric motors. We'll see how this year goes.
      - mrguyorama 2y ago
        And for literal centuries, you could flip through magazines to look for those neat gadgets when you want to look for them, where they usually had a fairly simple ad that wasn't trying to trick you or play with your emotions or anything. Usually a spec sheet. When I want to know what kind of neat electronics I can play with my raspberry Pi, I don't sit around and wait for Youtube to show me ads, I browse the fucking store. When my dad wanted to start a pressure washing business in the early 2000s, he didn't wait for an ad on the radio, or see a billboard, he ordered a catalog from some pressure washing companies and browsed their offerings at his leisure In the 60s, if you ran a electronics lab, and you needed a new instrument to calibrate your new atomic clock, you would order an HP catalog and flip through their offerings, which included a basic description, a picture sometimes, and some specs. Notably, the old way primarily required you to start from a point of dissatisfaction, intentionally seek out information, and purchase a solution to an actual problem you have. The current days, advertising is all about convincing us with evolutionary brain tricks that we actually have so many problems. I'm tired of it.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  - glial 2y ago
    Taking your question at face value, I would much prefer information be "pulled" rather than "pushed". In other words, I don't want to be informed - I want to search when I decide to search, get reviews when I decide to get reviews, etc. I don't want someone else deciding how my attention is diverted or what they would recommend for me. A notable exception is that I am happy to take unsolicited recommendations from friends and family, but that's because there is a critical distinction: they want to inform me of something for me, rather than for the product manufacturers.
  - sincerely 2y ago
    This argument for the theoretical benefit of advertising (being informed about products/services) was probably true at the point in time when advertising genuinely consisted of a dispassionate listing of the features of a product, and maybe a picture of it. Take the commercial being highlighted here for example. It's 2.5 minutes of a very cool visual image of the toy balls bouncing en masse. But how does a zillion balls bouncing down a hill convey anything meaningful about the television model it's an ad for? How do sexy models in a commercial for beer, perfume, etc inform the consumer about the product in any actual sense?
    - otterley 2y ago
      It might benefit you to take some marketing courses to understand why these sort of ads are effective and useful. Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean there's no rational explanation for it. (In general, it's a good rule of thumb to assume that the widespread existence of something suggests there's a reason for it, and to be inquisitive as to what that reason might be.)
      - Symbiote 2y ago
        Effective and useful for Sony. They are detrimental to society as they increase consumption, waste, pollution etc.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - jacobgkau 2y ago
        He didn't ask how these sorts of ads are effective or useful. He asked how they inform consumers, which was the point someone else previously brought up as a defense.
  - chgs 2y ago
    I would opt in. If adverts were for my benefit I would be able to choose them, rather than have to block them.
  - asdf6969 2y ago
    I like informative ads. Like old newspaper or magazine ads that are just a picture of the item and a few bullet points about what it offers. Ads like this post are manipulative and they weaponize psychology to make people buy things they wouldn’t want otherwise
- andrewinardeer 2y ago
  Well, this is a TV add, so no one is forcing you to watch it. Billboards, on the other hand, are awful as your eyes are drawn to it as you drive down the freeway.
jjulius 2y ago
It encourages consumerism for the sake of consumerism and enables excessive e-waste. Sony has put forth plenty of effort since then to convince you that you've needed yet another new and shiny TV to replace the Bravia, and will continue to do the same. I truly don't understand the idea of praising a commercial that exists solely to sell you something we could probably, reasonably, be making and selling a lot less of. We only keep going "because growth". When's enough? This is gross. Edit: And after watching the video, it's extra jarring to me to feel the warm fuzzies it gives you, and then realize, "It's not asking me to be a good person or do something that's gonna match the feeling this commercial is giving me, it just wants me to buy something it's gonna want me to replace eventually". Ick. Get the fuck out of my emotions like that.
- XenophileJKO 2y ago
  I feel like this is a very myopic perspective. It can be both art and a commercial at the same time and appreciable for either or both. As time progresses, it becomes more art than commercial because the commercial utility has expired. Commercials are interesting as they are a way to support artists financially. Many artists make a living in commercials while also getting a chance to exercise a creative profession. Conceptually it isn't that much different than church commissions during the Renaissance.
  - jjulius 2y ago
    As an artist, with a ton of artist friends, I wrestle with this idea very frequently. I understand the necessity for those who take that path, and I don't judge them for it (huge Jose Gonzalez fan, btw). Yet the ick remains.
    - scyzoryk_xyz 2y ago
      I would confirm the ick with my euro perspective. It’s a pattern I’ve noticed with Americans, this bundling up art with the capitalism. Commercial/Ad work can be a lot of fun and a good living for any artist, but it’s just not fucking art. It’s such a cringey pattern - that somehow makes commercial work into chivalrous patronage. That being said - cool ad! Fun to make and probably good money! Would love to work on something like that! But. Not. Art.
ryandvm 2y ago
OP is not talking about this ad in particular being cancer. He's talking about a couple million roadside billboards, ads on busses, ads in TV services you pay for, drug companies spending more on advertising than R&D, political machines driven by 24 hours news cycles that are funded from ragebait, social media companies that have us literally addicted to our screens due to their advertising-based revenue models. It goes on... ad infinitum indeed. It's a fucking cancer and it truly is the root of so many of our problems and we are running out of time to start thinking clearly about the damage the industrial advertising complex causes.
- stickfigure 2y ago
  As we speak, there are large groups of people literally shooting each other to death. Advertising might be annoying, but not even on the top 100 list of major world problems. I hate to say "go touch grass" because it sounds condescending. But please, go outside and have some fun! The dumb billboard isn't stopping that.
  - riohumanbean 2y ago
    What is the point here? Don't complain about the ramifications of the advertising industry because wars exist? I'd be curious to see this Top 100 list.
    - stickfigure 2y ago
      The point is: Have some perspective. Advertising is not destroying the world and we're not "running out of time".
  - ziddoap 2y ago
    There is war, so nothing else is bad. >Advertising might be annoying, but not even on the top 100 list of major world problems. Hard disagree. Advertising, in some form, is likely the root or primary facilitator of probably 25 or more of those top 100. >because it sounds condescending. Your comment is condescending, yes.
  - 2y ago
thih9 2y ago
Yes. Then again, there’s Banksy’s take: > People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. (…) https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/461383-people-are-taking-the-piss-out-of-you-everyday-they https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/461383-people-are-taking-th...
bondarchuk 2y ago
>It's ok to be happy from time to time :) I'm perfectly fine doing that without 2005 Sony Bravia advertisement tyvm.

amelius 2y ago

+1 IMHO too.

encoderer 2y ago

Capitalism has saved billions of people from poverty. Advertising is part of that trade. I’m happy it exists.

fracus 2y ago
> Capitalism has saved billions of people from poverty. Unabated capitalism has more poverty than capitalism with social programs. Social programs save people from poverty. Also, capitalism can exist without advertising.
- encoderer 2y ago
  It doesn’t need every form of advertising, but you can’t start a business if you can’t reach prospective customers, and if you can’t start a business then you don’t have capitalism.
bdangubic 2y ago
Capitalism has saved billions of people from poverty. You meant the EXACT opposite, right? :)
- encoderer 2y ago
  No. Poverty is the default state. Capitalism creates inequality but it also reduces poverty.

jgalt212 2y ago

Someone has to move the product.

motoxpro 2y ago

There no way to find out about anything if people don't advertise. Make a website? Advertising. Wear a band T-Shirt? Advertising. Make a website called Hacker News as VC firm? Advertising.

marssaxman 2y ago
If you want to broaden the word "advertising" in such a dramatic way then I suppose it is your right as a human being to make up your own idiosyncratic dialect, but I think most of us see a pretty clear difference between advertising which is pushed on you whether you want it or not, and information which you go seek out when you want to know about it.
- motoxpro 2y ago
  I guess my point is that "pushed on you whether you like it or not" is just a fact of if you re interested in said topic. Is it that you don't want an interruption? Because for the information to be out there, someone had to pay for it and at some point, it was pushed on someone who didn't care. I don't think I understand how any sort of commerce or awareness happens without advertising.
  - marssaxman 2y ago
    If I want something, I will go look for information about how to get it. If you want to call the information I have sought out "advertising", I suppose you can do that, though I would call it "reviews" or "datasheets", or perhaps at the most extreme "marketing materials". What I object to is the practice of tricking people into wanting things they otherwise felt no desire for by putting advertisements for them in places they will be seen while the victim is trying to do something else. Billboards are a blight, radio and TV ads are an intrusion, web banners are a nuisance. I filter them all out of my life as hard as I can, because I don't want people getting into my head and making me desire things I don't need. Ye olde hedonic treadmill never stops spinning, you know? Making a living by telling people to feel less satisfied with their lives, so they will want to fill the lack with whatever you are selling, does not seem very honorable.