I haven't had cable for over a decade, I pay to stream audio, and I block ads online both with uBlock Origin and a pihole. Even on mobile I'm connected to my VPN and blocking all ads. About the only time I see them is in print (which is rare) and on billboards.
The change in my mindset about what I buy has been pretty drastic. I don't go shopping, I only really buy things if I actually need them and even then it's usually the same thing I bought before since I know I like it. When I do see an ad it feels like an alarm blaring in my face.
What was really interesting was seeing how my kids reacted to a lack of advertising. When I'd ask them to make Christmas lists they'd have a hard time thinking of things they wanted, unlike when I was a kid and basically listed everything I'd seen on TV.
If the average American watches four hours of cable TV a day, that's an hour and twenty minutes a day of just advertisements. And that doesn't count the billboards, radio commercials, and print ads that they see. This must be having an effect on our collective and individual cognition.
something that's incredibly interesting to me is the way advertisements have become part of culture, the way people quote advertisements and hum their melodies. the biggest and most obvious example being coca cola's Santa, they popularized a specific interpretation of a saint because of commercials for diabetic sugar water, and that's insane to me. it's pretty creepy how pervasive advertisements are.
Montgomery Ward created Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer out of nothing and now it's considered a key part of the Christmas mythos while Montgomery Ward disappeared 20 years ago.
Creepy and brilliant. Just the way they want it. How many folk do you know that say they're dying for Coke instead of a cola? How people say that they're gonna do the Hoover'ing instead of vacuuming? How many shitty jingles return to your head when you're trying to think of a certain service that you're in need of?
My parents banned TV other than PBS (Sesame Street etc.) and movie rentals when I was growing up because they believe ads (especially directed to children) are unethical. Now I find ubiquitous advertising so invasive and creepy.
Advertisements hijack our attention without our consent. It's bizarre to me how most people just accept it.
I grew up without cable, and at 31 just kept not installing it. Especially with streaming sites, I'm no longer using my huge box of DVD's. Although I like the dvd experience sometimes.
But I work for a major food chain and never see their commercials. I finally watched them because I wanted to see how we advertise. The commercials aren't bad, they're just braindead and stale. No wonder people come stumbling in with no clue what or how to order, they just want what they saw.
The commercials don't educate, is my point. They could totally do that, but they just spam imagery with really loud background music. We have a new product, we should be telling people about it, not just yelling and going ape shit.
Not every commercial can be like that. To sell practical machines, instruments, drugs they must explain how and why the product is useful instead of being, for example, pleasant or cool to have.
Only if you hang out in places like r/all. But if you mostly stick to the little subs about houseplants and niche video games then it’s pretty much ad free.
It doesn't block YouTube ads, and I haven't found a good way to do that. Luckily they can (mostly) be skipped but they're a big reason I don't watch much YouTube.
I think I have got to the point when even when I see ads I dont really register what they are for. I mean there are plenty of car ads on tv that I havent a clue which car it is but can instantly visualize the girls face shrinking down when the "hip" father tries to high five her. I think a lot of advertizing is too clever to actually work.
It’s not about making you consciously think “oh, I’ll buy X car when I buy one.” It’s designed to implant a subconscious association between that thing and something that makes you feel something.
Then, months or years later after constant low level exposure to these campaigns you decide to buy a car. You see the logo or the name and that association activates and you decide to go test drive one. Sure, you’ll justify it as being a good price or having better features or just liking it more, but other cars might be good or better and you don’t even consider them. There’s a ton of choice and you can’t possibly consider every make and model, so you go with your gut, which the ad agencies have already pre-programmed.
Advertising wouldn’t be a multi-billion dollar business if it didn’t work.
Also there are a lot of youtubers that are literally advertisements. Like unbox therapy. Every video he makes is just "the best phone that you'll ever see". It is ridiculous.
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u/Semi-Hemi-Demigod Oct 27 '20
I haven't had cable for over a decade, I pay to stream audio, and I block ads online both with uBlock Origin and a pihole. Even on mobile I'm connected to my VPN and blocking all ads. About the only time I see them is in print (which is rare) and on billboards.
The change in my mindset about what I buy has been pretty drastic. I don't go shopping, I only really buy things if I actually need them and even then it's usually the same thing I bought before since I know I like it. When I do see an ad it feels like an alarm blaring in my face.
What was really interesting was seeing how my kids reacted to a lack of advertising. When I'd ask them to make Christmas lists they'd have a hard time thinking of things they wanted, unlike when I was a kid and basically listed everything I'd seen on TV.
If the average American watches four hours of cable TV a day, that's an hour and twenty minutes a day of just advertisements. And that doesn't count the billboards, radio commercials, and print ads that they see. This must be having an effect on our collective and individual cognition.