That so many smart and talented people choose to work on AdTech or systems that support AdTech is such a shame. That being said, I love these little anecdotes, they are super fun to read.
Adtech allows people and businesses to find products and services they want and need. Gives consumers choice in discovery and businesses reach and targeting customers in need.
At fundamental level, Adtech is there to help people. That and the many business opportunities are why so many talented people work in Adtech.
Haha. Adtech is not there to "help people". Back in the day, prior to television and radio, ads were there to provide information about a product, but those days are long since past. Ads now-a-days appeal to emotional and irrational wants/desires, this is common knowledge. Ads attempt to generate needless sales by marketing to irrational and emotional desires.
Adtech on the other hand, is there to drive irrational and unneeded consumerism and consumption just as well, it just happens to have some additional evil sprinkled on top. For example, adtech violates human privacy, adtech marginalizes the open web, and turns it into a creepy surveillance nightmare.
To say that "At fundamental level, Adtech is there to help people." is delusional and unintentionally hilarious. I am going to swing in the dark and say the GP must be an employee of facebook
"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs."
Edit: Credits also to Tejaratchi
The next time I logged into my gmail to read it I happened to be at a machine without adblock and I saw that google was serving me ads for garbage treatments for male pattern baldness.
Fuck you Google and your shitty advertising. There's nothing wrong with going bald and I don't need you to try and make me feel insecure about my hairline when I'm trying to read about scientists helping burn victims.
Advertising is the cause of the 'problem' that they can conveniently solve. Besides some of these 'cures' for baldness have alarming side effects and there should be regulations around advertisement for these products. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-merck-propecia-suicide-ex...
I really don't get this response.
Since very soon after Gmail launched, Google has been very open and public about mining user's emails to serve ads to them. This isn't some kind of dark pattern. There was a lot of fuss, to the point of politicians threatening to hold hearings about it.
And then people sign up for Gmail and complain about the ads.
I can understand complaining about cookies tracking you all over the Internet, and how hard it can be for the average Joe to avoid them. But Gmail and their ilk? It's trivial to use something else.
That's a new one for me on the victimhood trivialization scale.
Banksy is not the original author, Sean Tejaratchi is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Tejaratchi#Crap_Hound https://i.imgur.com/D0pTs.jpg
Advertising is crucial for everyone. When you have a product or service, you need to advertise it. Even if you choose not to buy ads, you need to find another way, organic or not, to make your project known. If you don't have a products/service yourself, you work for a company who has, and there are very few lucky enough not to need any advertising (because e.g. they secured long-term goverment contracts already etc.). We should focus on how to make advertising human again rather than destroying it completely.
A great ad evokes some kind of feeling, can live with you for a long time, and even bring back memories that you cherish. Yes, I agree with you, it can be a form of art in that regard.
Adtech, however, is an intentionally invasive technology that exploits any means necessary and technologically feasible to more narrowly target potential consumers.
You can have ads without adtech. But you can't have (commercially successful) adtech without invasion of privacy.
I think we (as a society, not just tech people) specifically need to take care of this point. Removing tracking will make it less effective, so what. We've had advertising without tracking since 19th century.
Please name 5
In any case, advertising without user tracking is, in my opinion, one of the most ethically neutral forms of making your product/service known, in contrast to morally dubious methods such as advertising with user tracking, product placement, advertorials, advertising disguised as articles/videos etc.
No thanks, I'll continue to block it everywhere that I can, and even going further and inspecting elements to get rid of obnoxious paywalls as well! Wow, am I a hypocrite? Maybe develop real, sustainable revenue models that aren't dependent on clickbait and being a lobbyist for corporations in the form of selling eyeballs to the highest bidder. Just yuck. I'll be inclined to buy into $WHATEVER if you just let me use it for a bit, if I find it of my own means. I promise you I'm not going to buy a Swatch because of your fucking banner ad. Seriously, I promise. If I just bought a book I promise you I'm not going to buy it again if I see it appear in my side banner. 100%.
Or maybe I'll just grow less dependent on external services every time I have to consider another subscription... wow! We'll see!