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Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

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Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#271

Post by asdff »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #232
pascalxus wrote: post #212

I have a hard time relating to these findings. Advertisement almost never works on me. And, the few times it does work on me, I'm actually quite glad and appreciative because I only buy products I really want or really need. If I look at all my credit card, amazon and ebay purchases for the last several years, which i do often, i see it's just the things I need/want: gas, maintenance, groceries a few times going out…

There's a concept in the marketing world named "reminder advertising." Forgive me if I botch some of the details, but a few decades back Coca-Cola conducted an experiment where they tracked, in excruciating detail, all coke sales in a small town for a month. Then they turned all the ads off. All the television ads, newspaper ads, all the signs and and all the billboards. Coke sales immediately dropped ~30%. Everyone…

Or that pepsi bought up all the new ad space that month, or just de facto became the only beverage advertiser, and reaped the benefits. The real experiment would be for everyone in the beverage sector to stop advertising for a month and see what equilibrium is reached.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#272

Post by yibg »

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…

I’m not sure if it’s just the TV, but definitely exposure to what’s out there can have this effect. I’ve seen family members that were generally happy with village life (developing country), until they get exposed to what’s in the modern cities. This can be from TV and other media but often times it’s just visiting or living there.

I have cousins that would be considered modest down to earth people that were generally happy etc. Live in the city for a while because of school or work and a few years later are completely different. Much more superficial, materialistic and I guess shrewd.

Not sure what the answer is. The change is negative in my opinion. But keeping what’s out there from them isn’t right either.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#273

Post by yibg »

therealdrag0 wrote: post #136
TheGallopedHigh wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Said succinctly: Comparison is the thief of joy

Example: Comparing engineering salaries :/. It can be addictive and disheartening to look up salaries and see giant numbers.

This happens with me and I’m not proud of it.

I make a pretty healthy salary working in the valley, certainly higher than most. But of course there are plenty people that make more. When I see these I get that brief sense of negative emotion.

I don’t like it but not sure how to control it either. Except I guess not look up engineering salaries.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#274

Post by asdff »

dibujaron wrote: post #220
pascalxus wrote: post #212

I have a hard time relating to these findings. Advertisement almost never works on me. And, the few times it does work on me, I'm actually quite glad and appreciative because I only buy products I really want or really need. If I look at all my credit card, amazon and ebay purchases for the last several years, which i do often, i see it's just the things I need/want: gas, maintenance, groceries a few times going out…

"Advertising doesn't work on me" is a lie that nearly everyone tells themselves. Advertisers love this. Ads rarely makes anyone rush out to go buy x out of the blue, but if someone is choosing between x product and y product, they're much more likely to pick x if has been advertised to them before. The substance of the ad is almost irrelevant; just because they've heard the name of x repeatedly before, they're much m…

I think there is a segment of the population that aren't consumers in the traditional sense. For instance, my computer is an 8 year old macbook, and my phone is a 4 year old iphone. My headphones are 5 years old with a wire, and will be just as good at producing sound 50 years from now. I'm not pining for an upgrade in any of these cases. When I needed more performance for my use cases, I bought the cheapest 8gb sticks of ram and SSD I could find, and did the installation and reimaging myself.

Clothing wise, I only replace my pants when they threadbare at the knees, end up with a plethora of free t shirts, and get the odd sweatshirt at uniqlo every couple of years because it's cheap and decently durable. I bought my formal wear a decade ago and I haven't gotten any fatter, so I'm not hurting for a new suit every couple of years.

Foodwise, I only buy store brand because it's the same stuff but cheaper due to a lack of a marketing budget, and although I do order takeout it's not like I was wooed by the targeted advert for the local indian place—I was wooed by seeing them throwing the naan at the back of the tandoori right in the restaurant. I always opt for pickup instead of app based delivery which can cost more than the entree.

In college, I used my highschool beater to get groceries, these days I use public transport and don't own a car. But if I did have a use for a car, I'd go with another beater over spending multiples more to go between the exact same points A and B in the exact same time using about the same amount of gas. Never wrapped my head around why people even buy new cars, unless handsfree bluetooth audio really is worth dropping another 10 grand or more.

Other than that, I only really spend money on experiences, not material goods. I guess you could say then that I'm not immune to an event ad, like if my favorite musician comes to town, but that's really a notice rather than the modern interpretation of advertisement. I see an ad for some blue tint glasses or a subscription box for hatchets and leather products, I think, 'what the hell is the point?' Based on other comments in this thread, I get the sense that I'm not alone with this mentality.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#275

Post by yibg »

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…

I make FAANG salary and I bought my car used for $6k. My previous car I bought used for $7k and drove for 8 years.

Not sure if I’m filtering out ads more (haven’t had a TV for over a decade), or the tech crowd tend to be more logical. But for me personally I just don’t care about what other people think, I tend to focus on utility. But then again I don’t think twice about spending $200 on a really nice meal, so maybe just difference judgement of value.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#276

Post by novalis78 »

7sigma wrote: post #78
eloff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another example, Apartheid South Africa got TV in 1976, six months later the riots started, coincidence? I think as soon as black people in South Africa could see how black people in America lived, they truly realized how bad they had it. Here it contributed to the undoing of an unjust government, so it's not always a force for evil. I think the most dangerous thing to North Korea is western media. I know the South K…

I heard of a similar story from my history teacher, but with eastern block and the show Dallas. From what I remember authorities were hoping that it would show the decadence of the west, but I think people mainly saw the higher living standards.

The East German communist regime lost to West German television. Comparing your 10 year wait period for a Trabi with the latest BMW made by the same ethnic and cultural group just a few miles across a fence living in a prosperous capitalist system was all the daily reminder East Germans needed. I remember how in a village in the North in 1982 they erected a giant TV antenna pole for better reception...

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#277

Post by backupcavalry »

ben_w wrote: post #263
therealdrag0 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Example: Comparing engineering salaries :/. It can be addictive and disheartening to look up salaries and see giant numbers.

Perhaps I’m unusual, but other people earning more than me doesn’t dishearten me. My first job after uni was UK national average for all adults, so I felt well off even on “only” £24k in 2007, but ever since then, no matter how much I get paid, other people keep telling me I don’t earn enough. If anything, the idea of earning twice as much feels weird rather than aspirational.

Perhaps some of them also meant you don't earn enough in the sense that they feel you're worth more than what you're being paid, which can be a reasonable belief.

But I suppose that in of itself can be unhealthy if taken too far.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#278

Post by Retric »

uoaei wrote: post #251
salawat wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not fall into "cager" rhetoric. I've been on the opposite side of that where I've rolled down my window to ask some cyclists to not dwell behind my A pillar when driving in the city, just to be ignored. We're all locomoters, and we have finite road to share, but I do agree that some of these safety systems are probably having a deleterious effect on driving skill and overall awareness in that all the driver ass…

I agree with the rest of your comment, but > respecting each other's presence. Cyclist and motorist alike. I truly hate the equivocation rhetoric used in these discussions on mobility because they obfuscate the insurmountable power dynamics at play. Let's fall into cager rhetoric; cars are cages now more than ever. Cyclists aren't obligated to respect motorists if motorists act with scant care toward the cyclists' li…

This is not a case of respect on the road.

In 49 states a driver making a right turn should enter the bike lane before their turn. That’s what the dashed lines mean. However, it’s very rarely been taught in drivers ed and to my knowledge there has never been a major public safety campaign on this issue.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#279

Post by backupcavalry »

manigandham wrote: post #180
kerkeslager wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertising doesn't contain knowledge. It's like a stopped clock: even when it's correct, you don't know it's correct, because most of the time it's not correct. And more critically, even when it is correct, it's not the complete story. I've never seen an ad that admits that their competitor's product is cheaper, or better. In fact, most ads don't even want you to know their competitor exists. So let's not pretend ad…

The knowledge is that product exists, followed by its purpose, features and benefits to you. Why would they tell you about a competitor?

Can't help but notice that the product's flaws isn't in that list.

I think the point is that advertising is providing you an ideal imagery to drive you to buy their product, truth and knowledge be damned.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#280

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

throwawaymath wrote: post #63
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…

That raises profound and fascinating philosophical questions about the nature of knowledge and happiness. I wonder how many of those people would choose to forego the knowledge of what they don't have if it meant they would be happy again. On the other hand, is that even a meaningful question to ask, given it's not possible? Which of course leads to the ethical question: is it right for people to live in ignorance if…

The Catholic Church has thought long and hard about this, and came up with purgatory.
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