Comment by disgruntledphd2
6 days ago
Sorry what? Like, basically all businesses need to advertise, and unknown ones (i.e. small and new businesses) need to do this much more.
Coke will be fine if they stop buying TV spots (for a while, at least) but I'm pretty sure Linear/Datadog etc wouldn't be the size they are now without advertising.
> The main reason businesses need to rely on advertising to reach people is because people are already being bombarded by competitors.
Fundamentally, advertising is a way to tell potential customers you exist. Most people don't seek out new products, how do you think small businesses would grow in a world with no advertising?
This is a valuable thread to pull thank you: how about differentiating targeted, sticky advertising vs context based advertising. On my local paper website, I value being shown local stuff (to your point on small business). On security websites, show me security products. On HN, Show me tech and science.
The ADD incidence rate being 10x for adults since 2005 (not to even mention kids), we'd all appreciate relevance to what we're exploring/thinking about/learning, rather than the genuine nuisance of nagging for something out of context because we're tracked all around the web.
Public ads should be illegal and customers should go to a catalog when they want to see ads.