Advertising Is a Cancer on Society • Hacker News Board

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#101

Post by archy_ » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:45 PM UTC

blodovnik wrote: post #8

This is a dogmatic viewpoint I think often seen in very technical people who are unwilling to see the interconnectedness of how our society works. I bet there's any number of things this person values that simply wouldn't exist without advertising. It's a childish and immature opinion really. Anyone who hates advertising this much should show their commitment by working at an organization that does not advertise. Loa…

Maybe they're valuing inferior products they only prefer due to advertisements?

Imagine how much better our world would look without advertising. Will some adtech devs lose their job? Yes, but honestly it would probably be worth it. They'll find work in a non-scummy industry and can be a net positive for humanity.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#102

Post by marcosdumay » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:45 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #21

starpilot wrote: post #2

We get rid of it, Google/Facebook/etc. shut down. While social media is of arguable benefits, Google has provided incalculable value to the world. Ads are the magic money fountain that give them the power to organize all of human knowledge, a phenomenal resource anyone can tap.

Google is the easiest thing in the world to sell ads for. You literally have a user telling you exactly what they're looking for. Why do you need to track them or do any of that shady stuff? When I search for "gaming laptop", just show me ads for gaming laptop. You don't even need to know who I am! Google will be fine.

Google used to do just that, and the ads used to be so good that often I queried things there just for them.

Nowadays neither the ads nor the results have any relation to what you search.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#103

Post by nxc18 » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

blodovnik wrote: post #8

This is a dogmatic viewpoint I think often seen in very technical people who are unwilling to see the interconnectedness of how our society works. I bet there's any number of things this person values that simply wouldn't exist without advertising. It's a childish and immature opinion really. Anyone who hates advertising this much should show their commitment by working at an organization that does not advertise. Loa…

I've worked at an organization that failed to advertise its products, causing massive inefficiency & waste - lots of people have access to our technology but don't know about it and end up implementing the same basic CRUD app over and over.

Don't underestimate the economic loss caused by people just not knowing there's a better way.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#104

Post by ensignro2340 » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #23

He doesn't quite say it by name, but most advertising is a classic arms race. Especially given how the internet now makes information easily available, a great deal of advertising is about manipulating consumers to pick company A's products over those from competitors B, C, and D. This forces those other companies to spend to get and keep customers. It's pure waste. For example, everybody on the planet is now familia…

While I’ll agree he never uses the phrase “arms race”, he does say this:

>The growth of advertising is fueled by the enormous waste it creates. In any somewhat saturated market - which, today, is most of them - any effort you spent on advertising serves primarily to counteract the combined advertising efforts of your competitors.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#105

Post by choward » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #21

starpilot wrote: post #2

We get rid of it, Google/Facebook/etc. shut down. While social media is of arguable benefits, Google has provided incalculable value to the world. Ads are the magic money fountain that give them the power to organize all of human knowledge, a phenomenal resource anyone can tap.

Google is the easiest thing in the world to sell ads for. You literally have a user telling you exactly what they're looking for. Why do you need to track them or do any of that shady stuff? When I search for "gaming laptop", just show me ads for gaming laptop. You don't even need to know who I am! Google will be fine.

If they know more about you they can show you one at the top of your price range. Or maybe they know you like to finance things and they can show you a monthly payment. They could also show you one that happens to be your favorite color. Or if they know your political affiliation they can show you the limited "MAGA" model.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#106

Post by crimsonalucard » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #23

He doesn't quite say it by name, but most advertising is a classic arms race. Especially given how the internet now makes information easily available, a great deal of advertising is about manipulating consumers to pick company A's products over those from competitors B, C, and D. This forces those other companies to spend to get and keep customers. It's pure waste. For example, everybody on the planet is now familia…

Ah only a strong central government could redirect resources and restrict freedom of speech in such a manner.

In theory this works, in practice it doesn't. Nobody is quite sure about what the dichotomy is between the theory and actual results. Basically by allowing commercial interests to control the direction of capital you get useless areas of inn-efficiency like advertising. The weird thing is, these types of economies still thrive. However, when you restrict and redirect resources in a centrally controlled manner, the economies tend not to thrive.

Nobody really knows why. However there are hints as to why it works. Google, gmail, search, google docs, hangouts and google maps would not exist if it wasn't for advertising. Google and the services and technologies they provide to the world would not exist if they did not receive revenue from ads.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#107

Post by tenebrisalietum » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #40

GauntletWizard wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were to take away all of the coke tomorrow, the first thing I'd spend all that extra money (and more!) on would be to try to invent a new cola.

Nobody's talking about taking away soda. People would still buy soda if there weren't ads for it.

But would they buy Coke?

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#108

Post by marcosdumay » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

irrational wrote: post #65

starpilot wrote: post #2

We get rid of it, Google/Facebook/etc. shut down. While social media is of arguable benefits, Google has provided incalculable value to the world. Ads are the magic money fountain that give them the power to organize all of human knowledge, a phenomenal resource anyone can tap.

The web existed before Google, Facebook, etc. and, as you might recall, it worked just fine.

I can't agree that the web worked just fine before Google. It was something completely different and much less useful.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#109

Post by perfunctory » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:47 PM UTC

Compulsory quote

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't."

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fight_Club_(film)

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#110

Post by dymk » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:47 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #20

blodovnik wrote: post #8

This is a dogmatic viewpoint I think often seen in very technical people who are unwilling to see the interconnectedness of how our society works. I bet there's any number of things this person values that simply wouldn't exist without advertising. It's a childish and immature opinion really. Anyone who hates advertising this much should show their commitment by working at an organization that does not advertise. Loa…

What valuable things wouldn't exist without advertising?

Name a consumer good that you've bought, that was never advertised