Lest we forget
Let's not forget how and who set the stage for the trajectory we now find ourselves at.
As far as product awareness goes I can deal with a new ad splash to inform Joe public of a new product service etc.... And if you have a good product that's affordable and lasts longer than the warranty you would not have any need to advertise as people will advertise for said products by word of mouth...
But this goes way beyond the need for advertising, let's face it the margins on click bait ads are an aside to the reason or need for a viable revenue stream, the reason it proliferated is more to do with normalising the intrusion and profiling than actually making a sale... At best the advertising part of it attempts to flog me something I've already bought or have no intention of buying.
The profiling however is another more insidious thing altogether... And worth way more.. Not to advertisers mind you... Corporate intelligence is where the biggest money is and is the reason why data is so valuable, at a macro level this is older than and indeed how advertising got its leg up.. Or over as it stands...
"If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway", he said" Edward Bernays...
Its how the third riech came to be an acceptable political entity, just so happend that it was useful for selling bacon as well...
Personally I can't wait for the inevitable misuse of said data coming to head.. Think TSA bum wipe using the access they have to black mail, sell on to hackers or other wise socially engineer themselves into a situation that privacy would avoid.
I'll leave this for all the "I don't care track me I've nothing to hide" dolts out there who frankly don't really understand what's happening.
A) Bernays argued that the covert use of third parties was morally legitimate because those parties were morally autonomous actors.[60]
Advert... Subvert hmm double speak?
And for good measure...
B) Describing the response to his campaign for Ivory Soap, Bernays wrote: "As if actuated by the pressure of a button, people began working for the client instead of the client begging people to buy."
Biting the hand that feeds IT
