The Sad Math of Ads: Messages of inadequacy and salvation through consumption
24 comments
·February 6, 2025forinti
josefritzishere
They're basically indefensible.
myrmidon
Could not agree more with the article.
Billboards are basically paid side-channel attacks on your mind.
Feel free to try and change my view on that, I'm very open for discussion!
I will concede that there can be "ad-adjacent" things that add value for society (newsletter-like information that creates awareness about a products existence), but that is IMO far from the main purpose of ads as they are now.
xrd
Interesting blog post from James Damore, author of the infamous Google "Ideological Diversity Echo Chamber" memo while at Google:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Ch...
I don't disagree with anything he says here. It must be liberating to not have to defend advertising now that you have no association with Google.
Also, that memo is fascinating because it references work by Simon Baron-Cohen. That last name seemed too close to Sasha Baron-Cohen, and indeed, they are cousins.
polairscience
it'd make a great podcast to bring those two on and talk about society.
picafrost
I’m still shocked that the US allows pharmaceutical advertising and people there just take it as something normal. It shouldn’t be normal to see pills you should totally ask your doctor about on billboards during your commute. It’s not good for consumers or for doctors (except the ones getting kick-backs?). If there’s no will to regulate terrible things like this in the US, there is no hope.
NickC25
There's no will to regulate such because those who would be regulated pay the most in "donations" and "campaign contributions" to those who would be regulated.
My proposal: if you, a corporation, is a recipient of at least $1 million in lifetime benefits, grants, tax exemptions, government contracts, you and your executives are unable to make any political contributions whatsoever.
If you as a corporation are unable to stand on your own without the government propping you up, you shouldn't be spending money on lobbying the government- you shouldn't even be in business. If your company is vital to national security, the idea of lobbying or donations shouldn't even cross your mind. It's sickening, honestly.
Molitor5901
Perhaps I am a pessimist but I think most advertising, 90+% of it, is absolutely wasted and pointless. Adults, IMO, ignore advertising and have trained their brands to block it out, and dismiss it immediately. Some of us are even petty enough to mute them, or look away; I may be guilty of this too.
What is very interesting to me, however, is how much online advertising works on kids. We know advertising works on kids, you can get them to become excited and demand to buy just about anything. But I am curious if the kids of today, technically sophisticated, are not also learning how to block out ads.
When I was a kid I got ads from the tv, and while I could walk away, I had to wait for my programing to resume. Today kids can swipe away, look away, dual screen, etc. so I am curious if advertising works on kids today and how well..
dartos
Let’s say you’re correct, that only 10% of ads are effective.
How many ads do you see a day?
If you use social media or read articles online (without an ad blocker) I’d bet it approaches triple digits.
For children it’s even worse as most children content are, themselves, ads for toys and games. Many mobile games aimed at children are commonly vehicles for micro transactions too and thus laden with ads
Hell, the only reason I know of raid shadow legends or nord vpn is the insane number of YouTube ads they buy.
Ads work… it’s why they keep getting purchased.
NickC25
Sad that this is getting flagged.
inSenCite
Technically the whole concept of marketing is kinda insidious - the goal is to turn non-users into users. I still think a great use case for AR glasses is blotting out ads instead of adding them.
Flyers should be 100% banned - just so much waste.
buffet_overflow
I'd like to see some form of regulation around % of visible screens/information presented in a public space needing to be specifically useful to the population vs pure advertising.
It's frustrating to be at a train station where every wall is an ad for something, and the actual information concerning the trains themselves is either tucked away on a much smaller, much lower quality screen in the corner, or worse, not working at all.
Basically I'd like to see some solutions to the problem that I'm generally being shown ads at the expense of the public service I'm trying to use.
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stwrzn
I can understand advertisements in unpaid products (e.g gmail), but when I'm paying for a service and it shows me ads I always think that the company views me as another product they can "sell"
mistersquid
This is the James Damore who questions Google’s commitment to hire female engineers. [0]
[0] https://www.jamesdamore.com/articles/googles-ideological-ech...
Jolter
His opinions on advertising can still be worth hearing.
null
Jolter
Why was this flagged and removed?
potato3732842
I really hate pervasive ads but I'm so sick of these sorts of these mind bogglingly naive "well obviously the solution is to tax X and ban Y" takes. Law is roughly speaking an expression of societies norms and morals and needs to be popular to stick around. If you don't want ads you need to get other people to not want ads, ironically I'm not sure how you do that without ads.
germinalphrase
People will put up with quite a lot when the costs are unclear or diffuse; nevertheless, billboard bans seem popular in states that have them.
samman
There are other cultural vectors, and while they might lack the virtual ubiquity of ads many of them are more effective for it (if perhaps slower).
nemomarx
are ads popular, or just the money from them? I feel like if given a choice most people prefer not to see advertisements, so long as there's no direct cost for it.
lentil_soup
I think that's the whole point of the post, no? to encourage people to oppose ads
motohagiography
that old chestnut about the medium being the message applies. the message of every single advertisement is the same, it says you are inferior and redemption is possible through buying our thing.
most stuff is just symbols and artefacts. calibrate how you relate to them to live more intentionally.
I think ads targeted at minors should be banned outright. I think of ads as business proposals and minors cannot engage in business without their parent's approval.
Of course, things might get murky with regards to teens, because they also use products that adults use, but there are still products made especially for them.