Re:How hustle culture took over advertising
by TeMPOraL on Monday November 05, 2018 @09:03AM
(#18382348)
This is where it turns into tragedy of the commons. If every grocery store has cantaloupes year-round, they need to figure out something else to advertise, or - if they're all selling the same stuff - they should all shut up. Instead, someone will always start the advertising arms race, and suddenly everyone has to waste time and Earth's natural resources on actions that roughly cancel each other out.
Re:How hustle culture took over advertising
by ovi256 on Monday November 05, 2018 @10:26AM
(#18382977)
>actions that roughly cancel each other out
Welcome to the 'the service industry is a job program for the middle class' view. It's not a rosy one, and the predictions it makes even less so.
Re:How hustle culture took over advertising
by TeMPOraL on Monday November 05, 2018 @11:54AM
(#18383814)
I've been entertaining that view for a long time now wrt. advertising, but what other service job has the same characteristics? Namely, that your works serves mostly to undo the results of your peers' work, and vice versa?
Re:How hustle culture took over advertising
by AnimalMuppet on Monday November 05, 2018 @12:11PM
(#18383943)
I think medical insurance has a component like this. The doctor's office has people in it whose job is to make sure that the doctor gets paid, and the insurance company's office has people in it who try to find ways to not pay.
Re:How hustle culture took over advertising
by someguydave on Monday November 05, 2018 @01:15PM
(#18384522)
There are vast numbers of government (and quasi-government) employees who work to cancel or mitigate the actions of other government employees.
Re:How hustle culture took over advertising
by beaconstudios on Monday November 05, 2018 @09:00AM
(#18382331)
this seems accurate to me, although I would phrase it as competition rather than abundance. When everyone has the same product on offer, differentiation comes from how you position that product in the market. This trainer is for aspiring marathon runners, this one is for aspiring basketball players. The reality is the difference between the two is minimal and they're both just trying to focus on selling to the subset of people with a particular self-image.
If you have a grocery store that has cantaloupes, and that's unusual because most grocery stores don't have cantaloupes most of the time, you just hang a sign in the window that says "Cantaloupes". Maybe you put a print ad in the newspaper. Those who decide they want them will come to your store. When they're all gone, well, your advertising did its job.
But if every grocery store has cantaloupes year-round, you're not going to sell many extra cantaloupes by hanging a sign in your window. You need to get clever. And behold, advertising-as-hustle is born.