https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/12/business/walgreens-freezer-screens/index.html

  • @Abraxiel
    hexbear
    77
    9 months ago

    I really want to emphasize that advertising is a potent form of exploiting human psychology. The advanced and pervasive form of it we see today, where it is tailored to individuals and consistently assaults them using a level of knowledge that many people's loved ones wouldn't even have access to is tantamount to abuse.

    If a friend or a partner kept careful notes of your behavior, where you were looking and for how long, what you tended to buy and when based on your surrounding behavior and mood, and used it to manipulate you, we would rightfully call such a person a dangerous abuser. It is absolutely abhorrent to accept that from strangers who also already have massive structural power over us.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexbear
      35
      9 months ago

      I really want to emphasize that advertising is a potent form of exploiting human psychology.

      When some smug Redditor says "IF YOU DONT LIKE IT DONT BUY IT, SIMPLE" they're expressing an internalized defeated acceptance of that exploitation.

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]
      hexbear
      31
      9 months ago

      Not just what you buy, but what you search, what items you look at on other websites, and correlating data with demographic information that is either "lying around" or supplemented with targeted surveys to fill out the profile.

      • GaveUp [she/her]
        hexbear
        19
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Also what all your friends like as well thanks to facebook/twitter/instagram/tiktok social network ad targeting

    • huf [he/him]
      hexbear
      22
      9 months ago

      human attention is a finite resource. what does capitalism call those? externalities. what does it do with them? carves them up and destroys them for profit.