Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by lobocinza on Friday December 10, 2021 @01:09PM (#29513308)

Ads are pointless. No matter how much human capital was invested in making targeted ads possible, only very rarely I see something that I might be interested in buying. And I can't remember a thing that I bought due to ads. They are a better signal of what to not buy.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by distantaidenn on Friday December 10, 2021 @01:15PM (#29513401)

Buying the product is the primary goal, but they don't expect you to act right away. It's about impressions. You see 1000 Coke ads and product placements a year. When you finely decide you want a sweet fizzy drink, well the decision has already been made for you.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by HeyLaughingBoy on Friday December 10, 2021 @02:02PM (#29514011)

The problem with this logic is that although I see all these Coke, etc., ads, is that (a) I rarely drink soda, and (b) when I do it's almost always the cheap store brand. The same goes for most grocery items that aren't produce or meat. I almost never buy the branded products unless I know it's better. e.g., Cascade dishwasher detergent is noticeably superior to the store brand.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by lobocinza on Friday December 10, 2021 @05:27PM (#29516216)

It can backfire. Recently Coke pushed a cringe ad to Twitch and I have seem a lot of people in a diverse set of channels complaining about "not being able to tank the Coke ad". The impression left not always is positive for the brand. Even Jesus, the best brand ever, couldn't please everyone. But I see myself still being influenced by impressions left decades ago in my mind when I used to watch TV as a kid. And smart kids nowadays probably use an ad blocker but there wasn't much they could do to avoid it in my age.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by TchoBeer on Friday December 10, 2021 @01:20PM (#29513458)

I would be very, very surprised if this sort of subliminal effect was strong enough to make advertising worth it.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by distantaidenn on Friday December 10, 2021 @01:21PM (#29513486)

I've had some work in this field -- it is as far as the marketing teams are concerned.

One of my previous employers (international mega company) spent millions on advertisements each month, with no clear way to measure their direct impact. But they did it for the impressions.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by kzzzznot on Friday December 10, 2021 @05:41PM (#29516355)

Luigi’s Pizzeria hires three teenagers to hand out coupons to passersby. After a few weeks of flyering, one of the three turns out to be a marketing genius. Customers keep showing up with coupons distributed by this particular kid. The other two can’t make any sense of it: how does he do it? When they ask him, he explains: "I stand in the waiting area of the pizzeria."

From https://thecorrespondent.com/100/the-new-dot-com-bubble-is-h...

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by rokhayakebe on Friday December 10, 2021 @03:11PM (#29514903)

No matter how much human capital was invested in making targeted ads possible, only very rarely I

There is the issue. "I." You may be one in 100,000. Also there is a trickle-down effect. A brand will spend enough dollars to attract a certain number of fans, then those fans attract others organically. Many will say you "Ads do not work on me," but unless you know exactly why you choose product X or Y, it is difficult to say with confidence.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by lobocinza on Friday December 10, 2021 @05:19PM (#29516135)

Yes, I know I'm probably an exception and there's the problem of the observed being the observer. What I can say is that I haven't seen ads of most of the stuff I bought recently. I don't see companies with good and afordable products spending much in ads.

I'm stunned when I see it but I agree that the average person is heavily influenced by advertisement. Influencers and ads can implant ideas in the minds of people that they replicate with absolute naturalness without thinking about it ever. Like: "X is the best Y". Which reminds me of Venus Inc.

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by hotpotamus on Friday December 10, 2021 @01:55PM (#29513929)

I feel the same way, but given that the largest companies in the world are advertising companies, they must work on someone, right? Also, perhaps they're good enough that they're working on us without us consciously knowing. Afterall, you must buy some things. Why do you choose which products to buy?

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Re:Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? by lobocinza on Friday December 10, 2021 @05:44PM (#29516394)

Could be said that they profit from management FOMO.

As a consumer I spend more time than I should thinking about what I buy. I'm heavily influenced by reviews and opinions which I know to be biased and not always authentic but is still the best way to discover hidden issues in a product. I frequently think about the characteristics that I like to see in the product and compare it with similar products. But sincerely, trying to approach a rational decision has become time costly if not counter-productive due to lack of reliable information and strong noise. Pay and pray might be a better strategy.

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