Advertising Is a Cancer on Society • Hacker News Board

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#131

Post by widget1321 » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:52 PM UTC

archy_ wrote: post #76

dudul wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I moved from Europe to the US I just couldn't believe it. In my home country there is one commercial break during a 2 hour movie. It's a little longer than the breaks in the US, but there is only one. There is also one during a 45minute TV show, and none during a 20minute show. I can't tell you the shock when I started watching American TV. I couldn't believe people were putting up with this.

I wish America would group TV ads together, it would make them much easier to skip and would remove the need for forced cutoffs (you really notice them when watching on non-cable sources)

The "easier to skip" is why it likely won't happen. Easier to skip ads mean you get less money for the same ads.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#132

Post by Super_Jambo » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:52 PM UTC

megaman821 wrote: post #72

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…

You don't think they have ever tried that. They stopped ad spend in certain locations and in those locations sales went down. People don't have time to research every single choice in their lives. At some point you just go with brand trust. When I see Uncle Floyd's Cola and CocaCola, I just go with what I know. Advertising establishes brand trust.

This is why the problem cannot be solved without regulation of the market.

Each individual actor is working in their best interest, but as a society it creates unimaginable amounts of waste.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#133

Post by StavrosK » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:52 PM UTC

choward wrote: post #105

StavrosK wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nah I'm good, if I'm looking for "MAGA-themed pressure cooker" just show me a good one, I can refine my query myself and avoid giving you my SSN and bank details.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#134

Post by c3534l » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:52 PM UTC

blodovnik wrote: post #63

smt88 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What valuable things wouldn't exist without advertising?

Computers. And if you want to be pedantic, you'll say but they would exist for military etc!!!!! But if you're not being pedantic you'll agree that most stuff relating to computing exists in its current form in lockstep with yhe ability of companies to sell and therefore advertise their products. Not just computers but everything related to them too.

How on Earth did you come to the conclusion that computers wouldn't exist without advertising?

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#135

Post by conception » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:52 PM UTC

solipsism wrote: post #111

joshgel wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a doctor, I'm all for banning soft drinks, recognizing that it probably will never happen. But, the health externalities associated with drinking such beverages should get priced in and be used to offset eventual health complications. This is not easy because no one likes taxes, but you get what you pay for.

May we be allowed cake and ice cream or would you ban those as well? Maybe you can get a special license if it's a birthday?

Just tax sugar.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#136

Post by pwg » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:52 PM UTC

archy_ wrote: post #76

dudul wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I moved from Europe to the US I just couldn't believe it. In my home country there is one commercial break during a 2 hour movie. It's a little longer than the breaks in the US, but there is only one. There is also one during a 45minute TV show, and none during a 20minute show. I can't tell you the shock when I started watching American TV. I couldn't believe people were putting up with this.

I wish America would group TV ads together, it would make them much easier to skip and would remove the need for forced cutoffs (you really notice them when watching on non-cable sources)

> it would make them much easier to skip

Which is why the networks will never group them, given that their revenue is arising from those advertisements. Making them "easier to skip" also reduces the prices the network can extract from the advertisers (because the advertisers would see "easier to skip" as "less effective").

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#137

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:53 PM UTC

ribosometronome wrote: post #51

jniedrauer wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? They're a net negative to society (soft drinks themselves, that is)

Couldn't the same be said of any luxury?

No. Refined sugar is incredibly toxic. It doesn't just rot your teeth, make you obese, and eventually turns you into a Type 2 diabetic, but it also raises the risk of heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer's, and many other conditions.

The direct economic costs - health care costs, lost productivity caused by illness - are immense, and the soda and junk food industries make no contribution towards them.

There are also less direct personal and emotional costs, in the form of family/partner illness and sometimes death.

Some luxuries are similarly toxic, but as a "cheap" luxury sugar abuse affects a much larger demographic.

IMO the ad efforts that support these products are unconscionable, and there's no question the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#138

Post by drak0n1c » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:53 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?

There are small family restaurants that I never would have discovered or thought of going to if I hadn't received a postcard ad in the mail.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#139

Post by themacguffinman » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:53 PM UTC

bthrn wrote: post #17

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.

That sounds fairly alarmist. I'm sure there's a (small) subset of users who'd be willing to pay for services like those if there weren't any creepy advertising tricks happening in the background. Would the business model change? Certainly. But shut down? Probably not. Google/Facebook are big and motivated enough that they could probably figure out how to make money.

And regress to a world where access to the best tools and information is denied to those who can't afford it? No thanks. I consider the alignment of profits with breadth of access to be one of the biggest engines of progress in the modern age.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#140

Post by ssully » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 7:53 PM UTC

natalyarostova wrote: post #34

Anyone else find the user of 'cancer' in these terms to be frustrating? Having had to experience the pain of people I care about having cancer, it immediately just makes me feel like shit. I guess maybe I'm just sensitive...

It's incredibly lazy, but unsurprising. I find the people who talk about advertisements so dramatically on HN intersect really nicely with the kind of people whose day is ruined because the free bagels their company provided that day didn't include their favorite cream cheese flavor.