4 ms·

I get the idea that "oh man we've got billboards in every home, imagine the money" motivation. I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's

by duxup 1y ago

I get the idea that "oh man we've got billboards in every home, imagine the money" motivation. I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads".

unconed 1y ago
Because the person whose job depends on keeping the customers happy is not the same as the person whose job depends on making spreadsheet numbers go up.
- npteljes 1y ago
  These are end-user products with many real alternatives, if people didn't like them, they wouldn't buy them. So the problem is not that the decision-maker and the user are different, like in case of the famously dreaded electronic healthcare software.
jihadjihad 1y ago
> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads". Ever turned on a Samsung TV?
- duxup 1y ago
  I don’t think I own one, granted mine is perpetually offline too.
  - SomeoneOnTheWeb 1y ago
    Most people's TV show ads nowadays, be it Samsung or a competitor. The thing is, people don't care about ads. They just deal with it. Hence how Samsung gets away with this sh*t.
    - gryfft 1y ago
      The fact that this is true feels like we as a society just shrugged and gave up about something like, say, ubiquitous lice or ticks. "Yeah, everyone just has those, all the time."
      - dragonwriter 1y ago
        Hey, so remember COVID?
        dns_snek 1y ago
        What about it? That's not something that "everyone had all the time" and just accepted it, like ads. We only saw that attitude towards COVID because it affected people for a relatively short amount of time, and majority of them suffered relatively minor symptoms. People not caring about others isn't exactly noteworthy. People not caring about themselves is different.
    - fullshark 1y ago
      They care but not enough for "the free market" to generate an ad free competitor that can be trusted to never show ads for the lifetime of the product. Especially because they'd have to charge more for that product. Government regulation is the only way to stop this.
      - Jensson 1y ago
        > an ad free competitor that can be trusted to never show ads for the lifetime of the product There is no such thing, every big corporation adds greedier and greedier practices over time.
      - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
        I've got a fridge that I trust to not show ads for the lifetime of the product, because it doesn't have a screen like that. It's pretty new, too, and fairly nice. So such competitors exist. I can't imagine that they will cease to exist.
inferiorhuman 1y ago
Samsung appliances are already well known to be among the most problematic around with about the worst warranty service (and lowest rates for techs who work on them) in the industry. They probably figure anyone who's okay with that nonsense is also okay with a few ads.
dmitrygr 1y ago
> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings Sadly, I can imagine it easily. I've been in a few such meetings across a few past jobs, and often found myself the ONLY advocate for sanity. Counter arguments were often usage count goals or "our userbase is sticky and switching costs are high. It'll be OK, quit worrying." One leader honestly said "KPIs - up now, blowback - after i switch teams"
npteljes 1y ago
>there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads". One, I don't think people mind it too much. By too much, I mean two things: actually stating that they don't give a damn (even though they are just as susceptible), or grumbling about ads, but still doing nothing against them. Two, price is everything. People put up with ads ever for a pittance. They listen to an ad every 15 minutes for hours a day, just to not pay $5 for the ad-free tier. That is how low this barrier is. So ads not not much a problem PR-wise. You'd think, you'd hope, but it isn't.

by duxup 1y ago

unconed 1y ago

Because the person whose job depends on keeping the customers happy is not the same as the person whose job depends on making spreadsheet numbers go up.

npteljes 1y ago
These are end-user products with many real alternatives, if people didn't like them, they wouldn't buy them. So the problem is not that the decision-maker and the user are different, like in case of the famously dreaded electronic healthcare software.

jihadjihad 1y ago

> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads". Ever turned on a Samsung TV?

duxup 1y ago
I don’t think I own one, granted mine is perpetually offline too.
- SomeoneOnTheWeb 1y ago
  Most people's TV show ads nowadays, be it Samsung or a competitor. The thing is, people don't care about ads. They just deal with it. Hence how Samsung gets away with this sh*t.
  - gryfft 1y ago
    The fact that this is true feels like we as a society just shrugged and gave up about something like, say, ubiquitous lice or ticks. "Yeah, everyone just has those, all the time."
    - dragonwriter 1y ago
      Hey, so remember COVID?
      - dns_snek 1y ago
        What about it? That's not something that "everyone had all the time" and just accepted it, like ads. We only saw that attitude towards COVID because it affected people for a relatively short amount of time, and majority of them suffered relatively minor symptoms. People not caring about others isn't exactly noteworthy. People not caring about themselves is different.
  - fullshark 1y ago
    They care but not enough for "the free market" to generate an ad free competitor that can be trusted to never show ads for the lifetime of the product. Especially because they'd have to charge more for that product. Government regulation is the only way to stop this.
    - Jensson 1y ago
      > an ad free competitor that can be trusted to never show ads for the lifetime of the product There is no such thing, every big corporation adds greedier and greedier practices over time.
    - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
      I've got a fridge that I trust to not show ads for the lifetime of the product, because it doesn't have a screen like that. It's pretty new, too, and fairly nice. So such competitors exist. I can't imagine that they will cease to exist.

inferiorhuman 1y ago

Samsung appliances are already well known to be among the most problematic around with about the worst warranty service (and lowest rates for techs who work on them) in the industry. They probably figure anyone who's okay with that nonsense is also okay with a few ads.

dmitrygr 1y ago

> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings Sadly, I can imagine it easily. I've been in a few such meetings across a few past jobs, and often found myself the ONLY advocate for sanity. Counter arguments were often usage count goals or "our userbase is sticky and switching costs are high. It'll be OK, quit worrying." One leader honestly said "KPIs - up now, blowback - after i switch teams"

npteljes 1y ago

>there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads". One, I don't think people mind it too much. By too much, I mean two things: actually stating that they don't give a damn (even though they are just as susceptible), or grumbling about ads, but still doing nothing against them. Two, price is everything. People put up with ads ever for a pittance. They listen to an ad every 15 minutes for hours a day, just to not pay $5 for the ad-free tier. That is how low this barrier is. So ads not not much a problem PR-wise. You'd think, you'd hope, but it isn't.