Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

hbr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 359 posts

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#191

Post by pascalxus »

slumdev wrote: post #112
tombert wrote: post #39

I was the first person in my family to do the "cord cutting" thing, where I only had an Amazon Prime and Netflix account, and a bunch of DVDs and Blu-Rays (around 2012). People asked me why, and I said that I think it's dumb to pay money for advertisements, and that I think ads are bad for you. My brother-in-law is overall a smart guy, but he works at Taco Bell full-time, making minimum wage in NYC (~$15/hour). He de…

These stories are too common. I would guess that the median* wage on HN is probably around 5x what your brother-in-law makes. And I would also guess that many of us are perfectly content with old phones, old cars, and generally reduced consumption. Hell, I buy clothes at thrift/resale shops when I find something nice that fits. What are people of means (relatively) seeing? Is it because we have more leisure time and…

These stories are so common, when I read it, I was thinking it was a precise description of my own brother. My brother who earns 6 times less than I purchases a 1000$ Samsung phone whereas I don't buy any phone at all and just use the handme-down from my wife, for 0$. It's a 5 year old iphone6 but still works Great. His other expenses are much lower though: for example, he has subsidized housing which means he pays almost nothing for rent. and he has no car, since he can bike to work.

Advertisment almost never works on me, so it's hard for me to imagine it's so effective on everyone else.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#192

Post by nickelcitymario »

kaibee wrote: post #189
nickelcitymario wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> do you consider this a good or a bad thing? As a representative of your industry I'm curious to hear your thoughts. I wouldn't presume to speak for my industry, but here are my thoughts and I appreciate being asked the question (as opposed to simply being attacked). 1. 5000 ads seems like too much, but I'm really not sure how we could arrive at what would be considered the right amount. 100? 5? 0? And even if we co…

> 3. Most advertising (there are very few exceptions) fund various types of media. With the exception of state-funded media, advertising is the reason we have TV, radio, newspapers, social media, online news, YouTube, etc. Generally speaking, no one is willing to pay the full cost of the media we all consume. It's paid for by advertising. (You're welcome.) (If anyone brings up Netflix, tell me when exactly they inten…

How should they be funded instead?

I assure you their editorial departments would be overjoyed if you've discovered a new business model that works without advertising.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#193

Post by forgotmysn »

aylmao wrote: post #190
xtracto wrote: post #8

This reminds me of an anecdote a friend told me: This friend dedicates his time in going to very rural areas/towns here in Mexico to implement government programs. At some point in the past he got to a town were the cantina had just gotten the only TV in town... apparently people in the town were generally happy, and they had everything they needed... so in their view they were not poor. But once they started watchin…

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced advertising should be regulated.

advertising is regulated

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#194

Post by sylk »

interestica wrote: post #186
logjammin wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell yeah! Cool to be able to share that eureka moment with others who know the area. Spread the word.

You've made me want to visit Vermont.

They have a remote workers program.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#195

Post by kaffeemitsahne »

For a few weeks now, the billboards (including video billboards...) at train stations in the Netherlands are blank, due to a legal issue[1]. I take the train multiple times a week and I think it's very pleasant. Unfortunately it won't last.

[1] There was a bid held between two ad companies, a third company sued because they wanted to get included in the bid, too.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#196

Post by endothrowho333 »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #108
ganzuul wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name one advertising agency which has honesty as one of its core precepts.

Petryna Advertising, my agency. Thanks for coming out.

Prove it.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#197

Post by mixmastamyk »

dgacmu wrote: post #175
mixmastamyk wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are talking about one from the 80s probably yes, 2009 not so much.

2012 -- electronic stability control made a pretty big difference. Past that, the jury is out.

Mandatory that year but common before that.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#198

Post by nickelcitymario »

darkarmani wrote: post #152
nickelcitymario wrote: post #28

I'm gonna take the contrarian viewpoint here. Full disclosure: I'm in advertising. The researcher states that increasing "aspiration" (their term) leads to dissatisfaction and more unhappiness. Sure! But aspiration is also why we invented the wheel, harnessed fire, founded fancy schools like Harvard, try to be good parents, etc. I don't disagree that ambition and aspiration can make a person unhappy. But it's also wh…

> Therefore I don't agree with the notion that advertising is inherently bad because it raises people's expectations for themselves. It's more nuanced than that. They are using advertising as shorthand for commercial advertising. The aspirations they are encouraging are for products. This want is what is causing the unhappiness. They could increase aspiration for positive things, but that is not what advertisers are…

> They could increase aspiration for positive things, but that is not what advertisers are doing.

I maintain that it depends on what is being advertised. It can be used for good, evil, and everything in between. What percentage of advertising falls into which category is largely subjective.

If the product is good for society, then the ads for it are a good for society too.

If the product harms society, the ads for it magnify that harm.

Maybe that's what I should have said right from the start: advertising is a magnifier of whatever is already there. If the product sucks, advertising will help it fail faster. If it helps people, advertising will allow it to help even more people.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#199

Post by pascalxus »

taurath wrote: post #141
tartoran wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally would feel quite ashamed to have the latest IPhone, I'd feel that I'd fallen prey to apple's marketing. I live pretty well with a 5 year old SE. For the same reason I refuse to wear visibly branded clothes and am not ashamed to buy some used items. Living frugally by choice gets you back some freedoms.

Certainly, but you're also a product of an environment which values that sort of self-expression. If every time you went and hung out with your friends they shamed you, saying you look homeless, you might think differently. Its certainly a sign of maturity to not really care about those things, but depending on your life trajectory different values will hit. And clearly, a lot of people value a new iphone. OTOH - its…

It's true that newer phone used to be better than older phones.

But, we're getting to the point where newer phones really aren't any better than older ones.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#200

Post by nickelcitymario »

endothrowho333 wrote: post #196
nickelcitymario wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Petryna Advertising, my agency. Thanks for coming out.

Prove it.

Interesting challenge. What would constitute proof?

I'm not being facetious and I honestly don't know if I could prove it. It's simply a value we hold dear and we're up front about it with our clients and our team. We refuse to be dishonest, because it's bad for business.

For context: we're a small agency in a small city. If we either lied to our clients or produced dishonest advertising, we believe we'd be out of business in short order.

I'll give you an example. Many businesses suspect their agencies pad the hours on their billings. So instead we mostly do project-based quotes: as long as the scope of the project doesn't change, we don't change our quote, even when we lose money on it (and it happens). I can't prove that, though, so you'll just have to decide if I'm being honest about it I guess.

Post reply on HN