There’s an alternative universe out there where ads don’t suck. They tell you what you want exactly as you were able to ask a question. What should you get your spouse for Christmas? Boom - the exact right ad shows up and tells you the answer - no stress for you or the merchant and the spouse is happy.
The advertisers have endless data at their disposal - why are they so incredibly bad at actually serving useful ads?
In a world where ads actually function well, websites could be paid $1/ad placement - no longer would they be blanketed in ads and struggling for money. They’d show an ad once every 100 visits - you’d see fewer ads on MacRumors (or any other website) than donation requests on Wikipedia.
Where did we go so wrong with ads?
There’s a universe out there where ads don’t exist period. Where users can navigate their life both online and in the real world and see reality for how it is and not have ideas, objects & behaviours planted into their mind by people who pay for that privilege. Where only people who have taken the consumer path in life can voluntarily expose themselves to it the same way certain people (they exist) stay up late and watch infomercials for cheap junk.
The sights and sounds I see when walking around my city, and the sites and sounds I see online should be authentic representations of the place I reside or visit. There was a comedian who said many years ago “if it has to be advertised to you then you don’t need it, you don’t see advertisements for air, water, security or family” meaning people should remember anytime they see an advertisement “someone is paying money for this idea/object/brand/trend to be put into my mind.” And never forget that fact.
I have used ad-blockers in all fashions across all devices since they were first released, I have avoided going to places because of rampart advertising, I haven’t watched sports in over a decade because of unavoidable advertising (I dream of a day where sports are just single colour clothed individuals expressing their physical skills in an arena filled with human voices and chanting and not loud assaulting pop-music and billboards on every viewable angle but that’s a seperate conversation.)
if we have proper ranking systems of quality in society that reward things of merit with exposure, then new inventions or genuinely good inventions and ideas will rise to the top and reach their intended customers hands and minds, not purchased.
to conclude this small rant, I agree with Bill Hicks on Marketing
