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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

#31

Post by teekert »

cm2012 wrote: post #20
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…

We should strive to take away the option of knowledge from the poor, so they can be happy with their place in society.

Maybe we can just create a lower underclass that we make too stupid to care for growth by subjecting them to alcohol during pregnancy and provide them with drugs that will simply allow them to be content by being.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#32

Post by hadiz »

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…

Now everyone has a TV in their pockets with infinite ads. IG, FB, Tinder, etc.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#33

Post by eloff »

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…

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 Koreans like to float DVDs over on balloons and things, but the US would be smart to get into that in a big way.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#34

Post by cowmoo728 »

banads wrote: post #7

Isn't that the primary goal of most advertising? To create a dissatisfaction in people in such a way that they're driven to buy your product in an attempt to fill that void?

Advertising used to be about listing the benefits of the product. Edward Bernays turned that on its head and made it about molding the public's psyche to make them see material goods as a form of identity, i.e. independent women who exercise their right to vote demonstrate their independence by publicly smoking cigarettes.

> Bernays touted the idea that the "masses" are driven by factors outside their conscious understanding, and therefore that their minds can and should be manipulated by the capable few. "Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#35

Post by nickelcitymario »

wpietri wrote: post #14
itronitron wrote: post #6

that's how you know that the advertising is working

Exactly. This is classic POSIWID: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha... People mainly buy things to solve problems, to end negative feelings. So if you want people to buy things, the obvious solution is to create negative feelings that can be ended by spending money on your product. The most obvious example is of course addictive products. Just when we were finally weaning society of nicotin…

Public relations != advertising.

Ed Bernays != spokesperson for all PR professionals.

There are shady people in every industry.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#36

Post by JohnFen »

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…

> But aspiration is also why we invented the wheel, harnessed fire, founded fancy schools like Harvard, try to be good parents, etc.

Excluding fancy schools (which I believe aren't exactly a good thing), none of those things were inspired by "aspiration" in the sense being used here. They were inspired by genuine need.

> I consider that a good thing even if it comes at the cost of a decrease in personal happiness.

We could not possibly disagree more. I think it is straight-up immoral for anyone to intentionally make another's life worse in order to sell them stuff.

> Advertising isn't inherently bad, any more than aspirations are inherently bad. It boils down to what's being advertised and how honest the ads are about it.

We agree here. Advertising, in the form that advertisers tend cite to people who are critical of advertising (informing people about products) is not inherently bad.

However, the vast majority of advertising isn't of that form at all. It's of the form of manipulating people instead. That's the sort of advertising that is terrible.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#37

Post by throwanem »

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…

Thank God for the advertisements that motivated Jonas Salk to invent the polio vaccine, huh?

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#38

Post by ganzuul »

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…

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

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#39

Post by tombert »

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 decided that he needed the newest iPhone 11, presumably because of some good marketing, spent over a grand (through financing of course...ugh), and he'll spend the next year paying it off.

I have nothing against the iPhone, I have one, but let's be honest here, do most people even benefit from the "newest" phones? He mostly watches YouTube and listens to music, and occasionally plays PUBG, all of which you could do on previous versions. He's also not some passionate photographer, so the fancier camera isn't going to make a huge difference.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#40

Post by Franciscouzo »

banads wrote: post #10
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…

Another personal anecdote: once I stopped watching TV I stopped feeling self conscious about driving a 10+ year old car, and no longer yearned to buy a new one.

Driving a newish car is a pretty good idea though, they are generally way safer.
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