In terms of cost of an ad to earnings, and how well, even a targeted ad, can hold a viewer’s attention. Have we just become numb to ads? Does targeted advertising actually yield better results?
Have we just become numb to ads?
Online I use multiple browser extensions and settings to avoid showing ads. In the offline world there is no way to avoid them but I think I pretty much can ignore them.
I also intentionally do not buy anything I remember seeing an ad for.
I’m the same way, but I end up buying something similar. Show me Wendy’s and I’ll eventually go to Burger King
They are effective, but not usually by being convincing. Its usually through saturation so that the first brand that comes to mind when you do need a thing is the one that saturated your market.
Spon con and influencers are more convincing/creating a parasocial connection.
In 2020 Freakonomics did a dive into the effectiveness of adverts. Link below (transcripts too). There are sources listed and such. My tl;dr based on memory is that ads in general are not very cost effective for most companies. Ads are very cost effective for companies that sell ads though.
so just like crypto & AI: a ponzo scheme
I think ads are super effective for some demographics. Children are probably the best target market. Teenagers, particularly those who seek external validation or align to external norms are a sweet spot. Old guys like me? No effect whatsoever.
Brand recognition is important. I have heard for many ads they don’t care if you pay attention so long as you hear/see it briefly, because you will be more likely to pick their product later when it’s the name you recognise even (especially) if you don’t remember why you know it.
We sometimes play a game around here where we’ll turn off the volume during a commercial and try to guess what they’re advertising. It’s harder than you might imagine for unfamiliar ads.
so osmosis? kinda like the consensus people form from being on the internetverse - not knowing just where they picked a fact or perspective up from, but touting it as an obvious fact or perspective that everyone has
Ads were effective in that they caused me to stop watching tv soooo… 🤷
When was the last time you bought something you’d never heard of
As someone who uses ad blockers, almost every time i buy something. If i want something, I’ll find it. I don’t need marketing vermin telling me what I should want based on who gave them money. I also hate ads enough that i specifically avoid buying anything for which i have seen or heard an advertisement.
You go to the store with your eyes closed and pick at random I assume? Product packaging is advertising.
Nope. Advertising is based on paying a third party. The company didn’t pay someone else to show you that packaging when you didn’t ask for it.
No it’s not, Toyota putting Toyota badges on their cars is advertising.
Did you even read the definition?
Yep. And, like a sensible user of language, I recognised that it could be stretched to include your odd definition, but chose to stay with the combination of what was written in the dictionary and what is the common-use definition because the rest of the English-speaking world is under no obligation to stretch out the definition to help you. Everyone knows what ads are. Only a particularly obtuse user of language would call ‘an intrusive video, put in front of you for the benefit of other people and the detriment of society’ and ‘a label of manufacturer of the object you are currently looking at, being used as an identifier’ the same thing. They don’t look alike. They don’t serve the same purposes. One interacts with them in different ways. Only in the idiosyncratic space of marketing theory would one call them the same.
I’d say technically it is just product labeling, since I’m not forced to interact with between TV shows or games. Have you seen the NoName brand?
Also I regularly go to an Indian Grocery where packages are plain and I can’t read the language, I spend a few bucks and get a good or bad surprise LOL.
Yeah this is advertising. It’s very distinct and clear; done intentionally to stand out amongst other products and be appealing to disinterested consumers.
That’s branding.
Advertising would be “best pumpkin pie filling, everyone’s choice” on the label. Also if you go to their no frills store its all this.
Right so companies put branding on their products to… not advertise themselves to consumers?
I go by this definition. Marketing is branding and advertisements.
The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.
lol no. Branding is not advertising just like getting smacked in the face isn’t domestic abuse unless the context is correct.
Beating my children (consensually) to prove packaging with the purpose of attracting attention isn’t advertising
Happens all the time
For the average person immensely. Especially when you’re not familiar with a field and just need something, you’ll probably buy something you saw before. For example if you see Makita ads for power tools and you suddenly need to buy a power tool.
As someone who owns Makita power tools, I feel personally attacked 😂
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Any company that pays for ads closely tracks the efficacy of ads and can more or less prove that the ads are worth it. There’s no guess work.
I guess they can’t put metrics on word of mouth. I would say an outstanding product markets itself and is more effective than millions spent on ads
I would say an outstanding product markets itself
Of course an outstanding product will spread via word-of-mouth… but as it turns out, word-of-mouth only does so much. I wouldn’t say word-of-mouth just “markets itself”. You’ll need some sort of critical mass before that really works out. There are plenty of good products out there that are not getting bought even if they’re better than the competitor, because the competitor has better marketing.
like modos, the open source e-ink kit with as fast refresh rates as LCD screens? on crowdsource right now
and as “open printer”? open source printer with refillable ink cartridges, no tracking shenanigans, a repairable design and possibility to just put a roll of paper (at most A3 in width) then letting it print bannerolls… crowdsource too iirc
And how many units do these things sell compared to a shitty HP printer? I would guess the shitty HP printer sells more.
lmao i added to the word of mouth here, that was the point.
ofcourse HP sells more. they’re a market monopoly that polemically and aggressively remove common knowledge of competitors when able to.
Super effective!
It’s not so much that ads can only sell you something anymore. They’re able to sell your personal details and identity when abused.
I believe the issue has been written on even prior to the 2025 article from Wired.
Data brokers are basically form centralized American platforms which carry immense databases about its users. These demographics can essentially be used to target high value targets. These can include government employees, members of military, and other persons of interest.
These brokers use Mobile IDs to allow advertisers to micro-target people with their habits, browsing fingerprint, and purchase habits. Even if these companies say they don’t associate identities with these Mobile IDs, the brokers can cross-reference enough information to basically de-anonymize a target.
Plus with influencers these days, many don’t disclose if what they do is sponsored or part of a greater outreach campaign. You’re basically stuck wondering if you’re getting targeted or astroturfed.
https://www.wired.com/story/google-dv360-banned-audience-segments-national-security/
this reminds me of many instances of undesireable policymaking where algorithms just connected state personell with agendas of politicians through the black box of social media… like a judge who got the thoughts of a politician on certain rulings which is illegal in nordic countries. like the message of “hey what if climate activists are obstructing capital ventures in law? can a judge try that?” is illegal for a politician to ask of a judge here, yet through social media it happened. she didn’t see that politician’s exact words but was bombarded by posts and probably ads that shaped the way she thought about her job as a juridical arbiter of lives. left uncorrelated in mainstream
Given that Google generated more than 250 billion U.S. dollars in ad revenue in 2024, I’d say they must be pretty effective.
Ads are effective at communicating how other people will view your purchase
