This analogy seems weak. In general, this post argues one way while ignoring all the good advertising does. Do cancers typically do good things at their baseline?
what good?
Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
31–40 of 286 posts
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#32[flagged]
Are you implying that kindness and advertising are basically the same? I can't imagine anyone being this reductive but I can't figure out a different way to read it.
I think both you and the poster you’re responding too are oversimplifying things.
Some parts of some religions encourage followers to be kind to some others. Some parts encourage them to discriminate, assimilate, or even kill (also some) others.
While I’m an atheist, I don’t buy the narrative that religion is the root of all evil, and I recognize that there are several good outcomes of some religions (e.g., help people come out of addiction), but if you think religions are all about kindness, I think you may just not have been looking around enough.
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#33(2019)
> Advertising as currently practiced [... is] a malignant mutation of an idea that efficient markets need a way to connect goods and services with people wanting to buy them. Limited to honestly informing people about what's available on the market, it can serve a crucial function in enabling trade. In the real world however, it's moved way past that role.
> Real world advertising is not about informing, it's about convincing. Over time, it became increasingly manipulative and dishonest. It also became more effective. In the process, it grew to consume a significant amount of resources of every company on the planet. It infected every communication medium in existence, both digital and analog. It shapes every product and service you touch, and it affects your interactions with everyone who isn't your close friend or family member. Through all that, it actively destroys trust in people and institutions alike, and corrupts the decision-making process in any market transaction. It became a legitimized form of industrial-scale psychological abuse [...]
And then it supports and complements this with a long list of findings.
I wonder if there are some approaches to hedge advertisement back into it's useful and valuable purpose and limit the highly, as the article puts it, "cancerous" impacts?
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#34Would seeing this on HN count as advertisement? I also see HN Jobs that I did not ask for, would this also count as advertisements / marketing? How would say, Daring Fireball [1] earn income from this cancerous mode of operation? Should this publication stop charging $11K a week to stop shilling products we don't need in your RSS feed? So then it follows that all of these are 'cancer' by the author's definition. How…
> The only way to stop this would probably be to "close your eyes?" or perhaps this isn't really a big enough problem in the first place.
The idea of banning advertisements never struck you? That seems like the obvious way forward.
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#35It is a form of violence and needs to be treated as such.
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#36I'm particularly glad to see the "Destroying culture" segment, though brief, as it touches on my main objection to modern advertising. In the piece, he mentions how an old work was re-purposed and "ruined" for him - though the phrasing sounds extreme, I completely understand. The concept described, as I interpret it, is about sparking an internal pleasure center for the purpose of inserting a commercial prompting to engage. This is especially problematic with "wants" type purchases - luxury items, status, etc. - compared to "needs" where a specific company is trying to differentiate itself from the pack.
I remember the hullaballoo when the Rolling Stones licensed "Start Me Up" to Microsoft. Last night, during the Superbowl, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunited for a mayonnaise commercial aping a scene from "When Harry Met Sally" and I chuckled to myself how it was probably missing 2/3s of the viewership on the reference. Using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" by Carnival Cruise lines only sparks memories for me of Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting" and obviously they don't care. Same goes for when "Lord of the Rings" trailers had the Kronos Quartet playing under them, specifically the track featured in "Requiem for a Dream."
Honestly my breaking point was for a car insurance commercial where an accident occurred and the driver pulled an entirely new car from the trunk of the damaged car to represent the ease of returning to the prior state. It felt so absolutely deceptive I never will let it go. But that's not even the low point.
Pharmaceutical companies are now portraying "mini-movies" with the full narrative arc to create the sensation that a full and happy life is possible if only you ask your Doctor about some random-ass pill for a condition likely best treated by a change of lifestyle. The one I have in mind is a football coach where he's a family man, a teacher, and then gets a commemorative portrait unveiled at a game because he's so beloved. The culture damage of these bastardizations of narrative and story are a runaway freight train - always in slow motion mind you - and every time you see a historical figure selling you something, just remember that they're dead and couldn't complain. If it wasn't for Crispin Glover's lawsuit win all those years ago, Kurt Cobain might be selling anti-depressants and Jimi Hendrix a Kia or something.
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#37I think the list of reasons sounds a lot like just typical facets of 'capitalism'.
I would rather live with ads than with literal bread lines my family stood in decades ago, in a socialist state (that funnily had more govt propaganda than ads).
my local food bank has lines every week
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#38This analogy seems weak. In general, this post argues one way while ignoring all the good advertising does. Do cancers typically do good things at their baseline?
Good things... lol
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#39Every form of manipulation of people through information is a "cancer": advertising, political ideologies, religion, escapist entertainment, etc. The problem is that truth is very hard to establish for those that don't want and don't understand logic. They're "cancers" that people want because they're comfortable with it. Also, if we try to control these cancers by restricting what information is allowed we will crea…
>Every form of manipulation of people through information is a "cancer"
Not really. Everything that can change minds (including discussion, the news, and art) is a form of manipulation of people through information. Who draws the line what's good manipulation and what's bad manipulation (or, which is the same, what is legit mind changing and what's not)?
Nah, advetising is a cancer all of its own
Re: Advertising Is a Cancer on Society (2019)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would rather live with ads than with literal bread lines my family stood in decades ago, in a socialist state (that funnily had more govt propaganda than ads).
How about none of these? Why do I always need to choose the lesser evil and never good?
Show me a large scale society that hasn’t have both. This over commercialization may be needed as a buffer against hyper scarcity