Advertising Is a Cancer on Society • Hacker News Board

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#201

Post by badrequest » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:11 PM UTC

blodovnik wrote: post #96

kelnos wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There must be a way to do advertising that respects the consumer, and doesn't use some form of sketchy manipulation to achieve the desired goal. And yet the vast majority of advertising is (to me) offensive. > Anyone who hates advertising this much should show their commitment by working at an organization that does not advertise. That's a rather childish and immature rejoinder. The world of employment simply doesn't…

People were offended by advertising in the same way in the 1970s. Advertising offendees will always be offended no matter where advertising sophistication is at.

This suggests (disingenuously) that they were offended in the same way.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#202

Post by lotsofpulp » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:11 PM UTC

dooglius wrote: post #185

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.

How is there an externality? It's not like smoking where it affects other people.

I would bet excess sugar (and carbohydrate) consumption is the second largest externality via taxpayer spending on people’s healthcare due to obesity and diabetes. The biggest externality is destabilization of the environment from pollution.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#203

Post by libertine » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:12 PM UTC

Advertising is as much of a cancer as any form of communication.

What's happening is that the barrier of entry - better yet let's use the industry terms: the cost reach of advertising campaigns is low thanks to the internet that drove the cost of distribution of information close to 0.

So you're just seeing what was once a privileged tool open to the masses - and it's bad. Anyone can have access to it with a credit card.

Now just because there's a lot of bad advertising, probably the great majority of it, doesn't mean it's a cancer. Else everything that's abused in a bad way is a cancer.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#204

Post by blodovnik » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:12 PM UTC

iamaelephant wrote: post #187

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…

My brother has the same view of advertising as this author but also loves MotoGP and other motorsports and doesn't see the conflict staring him right in the face as sponsor-branded bikes fly past. I agree it's childish and short-sighted, and I'm certain the author would have a different viewpoint if the time came to market his own small business.

Does he own any motorbike brand related stuff?

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#205

Post by k__ » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:12 PM UTC

We need to decouple advertisement from money.

Why should someone with more money get to show off more?

More money doesn't mean a better product.

But what is the alternative?

A nationalized ad network? Like public healthcare, you pay X% of ... IDK ... your sales or something... but the amount of money doesn't determine what you get.

In public healthcare, your medical needs determine what you get, what would be an equivalent in business?

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#206

Post by andromeduck » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

lbrito wrote: post #125

starik36 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you suggest?

Not OP, but JS crypto mining comes to mind.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#207

Post by brokenkebab » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #141

solipsism wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

You need to judge a social impact of something before you ban it. The reason why soft drinks are under fire is because there is a lot of people who drink them literally every day. I know several people who drink 8-12 cans of diet coke every single day. On the other hand people usually don't eat cake or ice-cream everyday. I mean, I have no doubt that you could find someone who does, but it's not a widespread behaviou…

It's very shaky reasoning. For starters, I'm sure you are seriously underestimating how much per time unit, and how much people do eat sweets. Second: if someone likes taste of sugar, and you deny that person sweet drinks, you likely to see increased consumption of sweets, or just plain sugar added to other drinks (coffee anyone?) How deep are you ready to go with prohibitions in that light?

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#208

Post by criddell » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

oneil512 wrote: post #191

criddell wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason we call it content is because it's just filler for the spaces between ads. I understand why ad tech and platform people call it that, but it kind of bugs me when people call themselves content creators.

No, literally all free content, videos, media, blog posts, whatever you want to call it, has to rely on advertising if they want to make a profit.

How do you explain Wikipedia?

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#209

Post by yellowapple » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

cousin_it wrote: post #95

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.

If projects as large as Linux or Wikipedia can thrive without ads, I'm sure a Google-quality search engine can do the same. So far it hasn't been done because the ad-supported model is promising more money to anyone who tries; but if the ad-supported model goes away, you'll see a good non-ad-supported search engine soon enough. It could be P2P and free (like Mastodon, which proved that social networks don't have to r…

The Linux Foundation's sponsorships are technically ads. Not particularly intrusive ads, so I generally don't mind them (much like I don't necessarily mind sponsorships of other things, like sports arenas and NASCAR drivers), but still ads nonetheless.

Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society

#210

Post by dudul » Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

paulcole wrote: post #127

perfunctory wrote: post #109

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 w…

Maybe I'm misinterpreting but didn't the movie show that everything Tyler does and says is 100% wrong?

How did you get that from the movie?