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Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

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Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#171

Post by taeric »

alex7734 wrote: post #163
taeric wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need for the "e." By and large, it happens everywhere. You can try to blame capitalism, but that feels like a trap. My view is that "high quality" is largely an illusion. And you start changing your view of it as you get older.

> My view is that "high quality" is largely an illusion. And you start changing your view of it as you get older. I disagree. I'd argue your view of it is changing because you can't find high quality stuff anymore, but it used to exist. My parents have an immersion blender that is nearly indestructible. It has been working for almost 30 years now and the damn thing never dies. Nowadays if you go to any blender from a…

I can find high quality just fine, for the most part. It just doesn't mean the same thing. As an example, check out what most kitchens use, if you want a quality blender. And be willing to pay for it. And don't be shocked to find they have several so that they can spread the use out.

My view is seeing my friends and family fall into the trap that one quality thing will last forever. It has never worked that way. All things need maintenance. And all things that last do so in the ship of Theseus style.

Now, do we also have a problem of fully disposable things? Probably. Single vendor items will be worse at this. But I'm not convinced from evidence that it is actually worse today. So many of the "made to last" things were not used for their lifetime. Such that that is its own form of waste.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#172

Post by foobarbecue »

robocat wrote: post #158
foobarbecue wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting; that could be what was going on here, although at the price I kind of doubt it. I bought one of those floating moon lamps from a facebook ad too and it came quickly and was pretty great! Guess I got lucky. Mine is not lopsided, but it's definitely a decent 3D print, looks like low-quality stereolithography or maybe some kind of jetting. It hovers about an inch over the base and spins slowly. Great conver…

I hadn’t seen an advert, so for anyone else wondering what a floating moon lamp is: https://chrisstarkhagen.com/blog/floating-moon-lamp

Right, mine is the VGAzer one. I'm a little less pleased with it since I realized that the highs and lows don't correspond to lunar topography... the low (thin) areas are the areas that are light-colored on the moon. That way at night it looks like the moon... but the craters aren't physically craters, the maria are high instead of low. Now I'm thinking about upgrading!

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#173

Post by grugagag »

teddyh wrote: post #157
grugagag wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with these brands is that they’re unpronounceable, and they’re almost as memorable as serial numbers.

It’s /fə·'hʊ·kwə·gɑdz/: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjjjWJMIGhM

I imagine some kind of marketing for these fabricating a myth that if you can pronounce the brain you get one pair for free, a la tiktok brainless meme without any basis in reality

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#174

Post by grugagag »

pg938hkd wrote: post #138
grugagag wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brand has some inertia. Eventually word will spread out deeply that nike is trash and the perceived value will go with it or along with the generation that knew them if they’re lucky.

I think it’s the celebrity endorsements. They really live in the Jordan name/brand. Kind of like adidas lives on soccer and for a while yeezy branding.

It does until it doesn’t

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#175

Post by doubleg72 »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #116
cushychicken wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect targeted ads are a part of the phenomenon the article is talking about. Since targeted ads got so cheap, tiny little businesses could buy super targeted social media ads for less money than they could selling their products wholesale at a store. Net result is that they can flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC, and end run…

> flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC This is a gem of a phrase. I'm going to use 'geoarbitrage' from now on. I live in a place full of this sort of nonsense, such as resold Clevo ODM notebooks, overly-cheap 'desktop projectors', overly-cheap TVs, water purifiers, and even air-conditioners. Oh, and the 'advertisers' are typically…

Funny, Kitchenaid and Wolf/Subzero are US made and most products I have owned from either are far superior to Japanese/Korean. For instance, my Samsun refrigerator is three years old now and has a poorly engineered ice maker that has been repaired twice, the light for freezer is now working intermittently, and the digital inverter with its obnoxious 10 year warranty sticker on the front of fridge is now is noisier than when it was brought into the house. I continue to use a kitchenaid dishwasher and microwave, 16 and 10 years old respectively, which still look and run amazing.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#176

Post by OldGuyInTheClub »

taeric wrote: post #156
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to walk a lot at work. Don't know about 4 miles but I am not sitting at a desk. Rockports used to make great shoes that fit without break-in, were suitable for daily use and in the workplace, and that didn't break the bank. Can't find anything in that style anymore so I have to go with so-called athletic shoes that come in a black finish.

I still have some old rockports. I do remember liking them. I don't remember any being particularly good at heavy use. Quite the contrary, last I tried them on, they were rather bad. Reminds me of trying converse shoes. Memory and age conspire to make things way different. Four miles is clearly me making up a rough number. My assertion is more that many of us do not have great walking posture or ergonomics. Note I am…

> Related questions, can you still squat with flat feet? Do you keep your back straight when picking up things? Not just lifting heavy things. When picking a dropped pen off the floor, what do you do?

The bad experience with shoes has remained constant the past 10+ years through periods of good conditioning and not so good conditioning. I think my ergonomics are pretty good adjusting for age.

Unfortunately I can't go back and remeasure material and construction quality from years gone by. My perception is that the shoe uppers are now all stiffer and less flexible than years gone by and the the sole materials are hard and have no give. I've gone to multiple shoe stores looking but have come up empty.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#177

Post by k12sosse »

anigbrowl wrote: post #162
flappyeagle wrote: post #18

My feeling throughout reading the article is best summed up as "Y U mad bro?" He harps on an "anti-woke" razor company that tries to market themselves as an alternative to Gillette and Harry's — the big point is "they spend 800k/month on marketing, so it drives up the cost of the razors". Does he know how much Gillette spends (saved you a search: 600M/year)? How do they fund that I wonder? He cites a study that says…

My feeling throughout reading the article is best summed up as "Y U mad bro?" He harps on an "anti-woke" razor company Could be rewritten as 'U mad bro? Y no buy muh razors & own the libs'.

Stubble doesn't care about feelings.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#178

Post by Aeolun »

WaitWhatHuh wrote: post #161
chasebank wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve clearly never worked in direct response marketing. The cost of customer acquisition vs lifetime value of a customer is terrible compared to traditional retail. In 2007, you could print money. In 2023, you’re most likely barely breaking even buying digital ads. The OPs thesis is quite correct. I’ve been in the space for 14 years and have tens of millions, if not hundreds, in DR adspend across multiple platforms…

I've been in the direct response industry as well for a while and kind of at a loss for what to do. Being a small time app developer and seller of random things. I can't afford these new CPMs, $15 - $50 is a LONG shot compared to 2019 and paying $3-5 CPM. Mind you I've spent close to $400k between Fb/Snapchat/Tiktok. What do I do now that these companies have shut me out? Anything I build I can't see a path forward o…

Is there anything inherent in your products (as opposed to someone elses) that entitles them to an audience?

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#179

Post by scarab92 »

fxtentacle wrote: post #93
cushychicken wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect targeted ads are a part of the phenomenon the article is talking about. Since targeted ads got so cheap, tiny little businesses could buy super targeted social media ads for less money than they could selling their products wholesale at a store. Net result is that they can flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC, and end run…

Your argument breaks down as soon as there are economies of scale. Gillette can probably buy the same quality as Jeremy's at a better price, because they order larger bulk shipments. That means the new niche DTC companies will most likely be a worse value to consumers than the established big brands. Also, the article links to a study which found DTC to be 10% more expensive than traditional retail.

Economies of scale diminish quickly when overheads are low, which the tooling costs for making razors will be.

It's likely that even small companies are selling enough that these costs amortise to near zero.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#180

Post by MichaelZuo »

looping__lui wrote: post #142
MichaelZuo wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? Alphabet, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, Bytedance, Yandex each have more than 1% of digital ad spend marketshare, and none of them have 50% of total marketshare. They compete in many areas too. I think there are credible Indian competitors growing too.

Theres OPEC, theres Russia, theres Iraq, … These companies have margins >>20% whereas the advertisers barely break even.

> Theres OPEC, theres Russia, theres Iraq, … These companies have margins >>20% whereas the advertisers barely break even.

How is oil & gas relevant to digital ads?

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