Hacker News Reader

Deodorant became popular after advertisements started emotionally negging people by implying that they were stinky and everybody around them were laughing behind their back.

Connecting products to interested customers often involve manipulating the customer into being interested. Think about sugary cereals targeted at kids with songs and colors.

View on HN

As usual with matters of opinion, there is a positive and negative way to frame everything. You framed the negative. Allow me to frame the positive:

The human condition has been improved now that we all spend $3/mo on deodorant.

You highlighted an important point: ads only frame one side of the story.

If you want the full story, look elsewhere.

Is emotional manipulation a good thing if it has positive outcomes? What about torture, is torture with positive outcomes a good thing for society? Why stop there, what about killing people without a trial, if we can find enough positive outcomes?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com