Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Facebook

Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by crazygringo on Thursday March 21, 2019 @07:57PM (#19458514)

So... I used to hate ads, and especially (real-life) billboards. I was convinced a world without public advertising would be better.

Then I spent a long weekend in São Paulo (Brazil), a mega-city which had banned all outdoor advertising a couple of years prior.

It was... a profoundly boring urban environment. Until then, I'd never imagined just how much advertising adds color, faces, humanity, and dynamism to a city.

I dunno. I still feel like I dislike ads in principle... but then in practice the world feels empty without them. Think of when you open a magazine from 80 years ago, the ads can be the most interesting part. They're part of our cultural fabric.

I still don't what to think, but I know it's more complicated than "ads are bad".

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Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by darkerside on Thursday March 21, 2019 @08:06PM (#19458553)

This just blew my mind a bit. It made me think of how corporations are like giant organisms, and their ads are like mating calls that drive their thriving and reproduction.

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Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by FridgeSeal on Thursday March 21, 2019 @11:10PM (#19459333)

Don't mistake advertising for culture.

You can have vibrant, colourful environments without advertising.

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Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by crazygringo on Friday March 22, 2019 @10:00AM (#19462544)

That's a great point. The Bushwick neighborhood in NYC is a prime example. Although even some of those murals are being co-opted by brands! :S

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Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by darkerside on Friday March 22, 2019 @04:41PM (#19466697)

Is advertising not an enormous part of modern culture? It's certainly not the only kind, but it's where we've allocated tons of resources to provoke and stimulate.

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Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by FridgeSeal on Friday March 22, 2019 @08:04PM (#19468086)

Advertisers is a parasite on culture in that it can be a part of it, but for the most part it leeches and re-appropriates culture for its own ends.

Advertising would very much like you to think it’s a big part of modern culture, because that would be vindicating and validating it’s existence.

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Re:Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Fa... by FridgeSeal on Thursday March 21, 2019 @11:06PM (#19459323)

Yeah, if you have absolutely nothing then of course it's going to look boring. Instead, fill that space with art and murals: way more pleasant and it adds a lot of culture to your city. I don't recall which city it was, but there was one in Europe that removed advertising from their train stations and replaced it with art pieces.

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