Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: pantodragon on 28/01/2013 15:50:07
-
I heard on the radio this morning Joan Bakewell describing her early employment as an advertising copywriter. She talked of the POINTLESS job of trying to get people to buy things they don’t want or can’t afford. Pointless? Is it really that harmless?
PS: Is the advertising blurb found on the back of every popular science book also harmless?
-
Personally I feel that non-directed advertising is pretty pointless.
Why spend millions of dollars on car ads for vehicles that I'm not going to buy.
I can do my own research when it is time to trade my house for a car.
I suppose price is important with shopping, but I also hate coupon clipping. I'd rather see products that will stand for themselves on the store shelf.
Directed advertising is a bit different, and I find myself periodically reading some tool ads, hoping for a better deal on something that I don't really need.
One type of subtle advertising is product placement.
I have heard that many of the "Bond Cars" have been provided for free, or at significant discounts to the movie producers. One has to wonder why "The Transporter" likes Audis.
-
/... snipped
I have heard that many of the "Bond Cars" have been provided for free, or at significant discounts to the movie producers. One has to wonder why "The Transporter" likes Audis.
Presumably because BMW didn't pay him enough after the first film!
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mohamedsidek.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F12%2Ftransporter-car.jpg&hash=da29b21b7ace67f08fde5ce72c4c599d)
-
Personally I feel that non-directed advertising is pretty pointless.
These are branding exercises designed to embed the product name in our minds so that when we do wish to buy such a product that name is at or near the top of the list. When asking for a sweet, dark coloured, carbonated beverage more than 90% of the population will ask for a coke, not a cola.
Or the brilliant Avis campaign of the 1970s. "We are number two, but we try harder."
I could go on, but not until I've sorted out commission arrangements with my sponsors.
-
Advertising is one of the largest industries in developed countries. The cost of maintaining this industry is phenomenal. It is, of course, carried by the consumer: every time you buy something a significant portion of what you pay goes to advertising costs. One can only speculate about how much our standards if living would go up if the cost of sdvertising was removed from the product prices.
If advertising is pointless and harmless, then at least we are funding something which doesn't actually harm us, other than our wallets. However, the more likely situation is that we are shelling out hard earned cash to pay for ourselves to be brainwashed. Worse, some of that brainwashing induces us to shell out more of our hard earned cash to buy things we do not want. One can only wonder how much money is left in one's wallet at the end of the month to actually spend as one really wants.
-
Advertising, of course, supports things like TV. For a long time, it has supported newspapers and printed media too.
Would we be better off if all our groceries were less expensive due to no advertising, and we had to pay for our TV?
Of course, there are those entities that feel it is appropriate to both charge for TV programming, plus inundate the consumers with ads.
-
The game-changer here, in my view is the free Internet. Now, things can "go viral" powered by the public and cost the promoter nothing. All they need to do is inject enough momentum to get a product "liked" a few times and then it takes care of itself... at least in the ideal world.
Chris
-
It's only "pointless" to those who aren't interested in the product / service being advertised.
Hence the move towards increasingly targeted advertisements ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_targeting
BTW
if you don't want to be bombarded with internet adverts* use Firefox internet browser and install AdBlockPlus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblockplus) and Ghostery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery), (and optionally install NoScript (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoScript) while you're at it to block badware).
[ * Particularly the grab-a-granny "mature dating" ones, yeuch ]
-
Yes, but many sites will cripple their website if you block java or ad content.
After collecting millions of "free" videos, Google is now forcing users to view ads before watching the videos, and putting inline ads in conjunction with the videos.
Perhaps a youtube alternative will pop up to rid people of these pesky ads.
-
Perhaps a youtube alternative will pop up to rid people of these pesky ads.
AdBlockPlus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblockplus) on its own does block adverts on YouTube: both the still-picture advert and the video advert inserted before you see the selected YouTube video ...
[ Invalid Attachment ]
There is an ethical issue with advert blocking ... https://adblockplus.org/blog/ethics-of-blocking-ads
-
Advertising, of course, supports things like TV. For a long time, it has supported newspapers and printed media too.
Would we be better off if all our groceries were less expensive due to no advertising, and we had to pay for our TV?
Of course, there are those entities that feel it is appropriate to both charge for TV programming, plus inundate the consumers with ads.
Ahem..........you DO have to pay for the tv. You pay for the tv PLUS the advertising. I mean, who do you think pays for the tv??????
The advertisiers pay for the tv. You pay for the tv indirectly through the advertising.
-
The game-changer here, in my view is the free Internet. Now, things can "go viral" powered by the public and cost the promoter nothing. All they need to do is inject enough momentum to get a product "liked" a few times and then it takes care of itself... at least in the ideal world.
Chris
Well that's the wonder of the internet, isn't it? It is ever more difficult to see and be aware that you are paying for things. Free internet??? You have to be joking. It is a thing, and it has services. Somebody always has to pay for things and services, and that somebody is Joe Bloggs. And even if some things are cheaper now on the internet, that is only a well known ploy: get them hooked now for "free", and then you have them by the short and curlies when you want to put the price up later. The internet is a godsend to the cunning and deviousness of business.
-
It's only "pointless" to those who aren't interested in the product / service being advertised.
Hence the move towards increasingly targeted advertisements ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_targeting
BTW
if you don't want to be bombarded with internet adverts* use Firefox internet browser and install AdBlockPlus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblockplus) and Ghostery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery), (and optionally install NoScript (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoScript) while you're at it to block badware).
And while I'm at it, I'll build a 15 foot high brick wall right round my house to keep out the cold callers........life is just becoming reduced to having to devote all one's spare time to fending off the unwanted attentions and intrusions of advertisers, who find ever more cunning and devious ways of breaking through or getting round one's defences. This is a war that the advertisiers will go on winning just so long as people like you go on swallowing the advertising! (Free internet!!!????)
Also, you describe adblocking software as though it is the answer. Well again, you'll only instal one before they'll find a way round it. Besides which, you have to pay for all this; even if the adblocking software is supposedly free, YOU ARE ACTUALLY PAYING FOR IT -- it's just not paid for directly.
-
Also, you describe adblocking software as though it is the answer. Well again, you'll only instal one before they'll find a way round it.
True: it's a cat and mouse game. AddBlockPlus has a free filter subscription (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_plus#Filter_subscriptions) updated every week so it can identify and block the latest adverts. You can also add your own filter rules if you are troubled by an advert which isn’t on the filter list, ( doing that is a joy ).
Besides which, you have to pay for all this; even if the adblocking software is supposedly free, YOU ARE ACTUALLY PAYING FOR IT -- it's just not paid for directly.
AddBlockPlus is totally free, and as far as I can tell has no strings attached ... http://adblockplus.org/en/about
[ its developers do accept donations from grateful users, such as myself ]
-
We've heard of the "fog of war", and advertising might well be described as the "fog of lure".
I am reminded of the strategy Krupp Steel Works used 100 years ago. A new armor that current projectiles could not penetrate, then a new projectile that penetrated the new armor. Iteration after iteration, many countries caught in the frenzy. Big bucks for Krupp. Advertising is a game of one-up-man-ship.
The day companies stop advertising is the day women stop wearing makeup, and we all know that'll never happen.
-
......as far as I can tell....
Well, this is rather the point: you cannot tell. Business is very much in the business of hiding its tracks and making it increasingly difficult to find out what is really going on --- why is that? Because they have something to hide; because they want you to think you are getting something for free when you are not etc., etc,.
-
The day companies stop advertising is the day women stop wearing makeup, and we all know that'll never happen.
To quote from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World:
These things happen, because when these things happen, people like you just say "These things happen", and that's why these things happen!
-
There's an old joke that everyone knows that half the money spent on advertising is wasted, but nobody knows which half.
-
......as far as I can tell....
Well, this is rather the point: you cannot tell.
I do look gift horses in the mouth. But in this instance the adblockplus adblocking addon is free of charge, it blocks adverts on a list which is updated weekly, free of charge , and you can add your own blocking filters to that list.
The only possible unscrupulous angle I can see is that they could let some advertisers through their block in exchange for payment : the advertisers have to pay them to get their adverts seen by the audience.
I've used adblockplus for several years and I've seen no evidence of this happening. Even if it were to happen the vast majority of adverts would be blocked, for free, and any which got through the block which I objected to I could add to my personal blacklist in a couple of mouse clicks.
If there is a catch in AdBlockPlus surely one of the one of the 15 million users would have spotted it ...
[ Invalid Attachment ]
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
-
There's an old joke that everyone knows that half the money spent on advertising is wasted, but nobody knows which half.
I like it!!!
-
If there is a catch in AdBlockPlus surely one of the one of the 15 million users would have spotted it ...
You do know we have entered the information age, don't you? Everytime you switch your computer on somebody, somewhere records it, and records every page you visit and for how long etc, etc, which is why you get leaflets through your door advertising baby clothes before you and your wife even know she's pregnant. Every one from scientists to economists to businessmen to the CIA want to know every last detail about you and your life and are willing to pay for it, which, in turn, means you've got to pay for them to have it. The internet and computers are a godsend to every one from scientists to economists to businessmen to the CIA, giving them a whole new lease of life, based on information instead of knowledge.