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Advertising is a cancer on society
I know it's a blog post, but you're not going to get this kind of thing in a news article. Hopefully SoylentNews' many advertisers won't be offended.
[...] Advertising as currently practiced shares these characteristics. It's a malignant mutation of an idea that efficient markets need a way to connect goods and services with people wanting to buy them. Limited to honestly informing people about what's available on the market, it can serve a crucial function in enabling trade. In the real world however, it's moved way past that role.
Real world advertising is not about informing, it's about convincing. Over time, it became increasingly manipulative and dishonest. It also became more effective. In the process, it grew to consume a significant amount of resources of every company on the planet. It infected every communication medium in existence, both digital and analog. It shapes every product and service you touch, and it affects your interactions with everyone who isn't your close friend or family member. Through all that, it actively destroys trust in people and institutions alike, and corrupts the decision-making process in any market transaction. It became a legitimized form of industrial-scale psychological abuse, and there's no way you can resist its impact.
The growth of advertising is fueled by the enormous waste it creates. In any somewhat saturated market - which, today, is most of them - any effort you spent on advertising serves primarily to counteract the combined advertising efforts of your competitors. The same results could be achieved if every market player limited themselves to just informing customers about their goods and services. This, unfortunately, is impossible for humanity, and so we end up with a zero-sum game instead (or really negative-sum, if you count the externalities). If you have competitors, you can't not participate.
The blog/article goes on to describe Robocalls, telemarketing, Spam, Leaflets, snail mail spam, SEO, and much, much more, all for the same low price! (Now how much would you pay?)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 01 2019, @04:39PM (5 children)
That one seems like it could be fixed.
Just require that the Quick Fast Burger look like the one on the menu. No need to even reference the TV or billboard ads.
Or rather, do it the other way. Require that the images used on the menu and ads be a random product from a randomly selected retail location. With a third party providing the random factor, such as drawing one from a hat, etc to prevent manipulation.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday August 01 2019, @05:46PM (4 children)
There are many potential solutions. What's missing is the political will to actually implement one or more of the solutions. Or for that matter, any sort of actual consumer protection.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 01 2019, @06:37PM (3 children)
Some politicians are in favor of consumer protections. But then others yell about government regulation!
Some politicians start stripping away all kinds of protections as soon as they take office. Including environmental, air and water quality, not just consumer protections.
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(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday August 01 2019, @07:10PM (2 children)
Exactly.
Interestingly, a significant percentage of the latter group seem to be all for strict enforcement of terms adverse to the consumer.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 01 2019, @08:49PM (1 child)
One political party hates consumers as a matter of ideology.
The other party is anti consumer if the right palms are greased.
So there's not necessarily any winning tragedy here.
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(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday August 01 2019, @09:40PM
Sadly true.