News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why I Work on Ads. Parent comment

Re:Why I Work on Ads by oulipo on Thursday May 06, 2021 @11:43AM (#27064970)
The problem is that ads are not free. It's paid. And it's paid by you.

When you say "I'm using Google for free because it's supported by ads", what it means is:

- some companies are buying (expensive) ads on Google

- they are therefore increasing their marketing budget

- which mechanically increases the price of their services and products

- which you ultimately have to pay

so no, the "free ads" are not free for the consumers, you pay them as a "marketing tax" on each product and service that you pay for

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why I Work on Ads by fauigerzigerk on Thursday May 06, 2021 @02:01PM (#27066983)
True, but by the same logic, how much each of us pays for ad funded services depends on how much each of us can spend. I.e. wealthy people pay more per Google search than poor people.

And there's another issue. Even if all online services switched to a subscription model tomorrow, companies would not suddenly stop spending money on promoting their products. They would just do it differently and we would pay twice.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why I Work on Ads by mmmmmbop on Thursday May 06, 2021 @02:13PM (#27067141)
Your line of argument rests on the assumption that buying ads has no positive effect on sales.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why I Work on Ads by anoncake on Thursday May 06, 2021 @04:55PM (#27068951)
If it does, that's even worse. We're polluting more than we can afford to, making people want more stuff is the last thing we need.
[ Parent | on HN ]