Reddit forces personalized ads, starts X-like user payment program
arstechnica.com
Like it or not, Reddit wants to "improve ad performance."

I left a couple of months ago. Couldn’t be happier.

The writing is on the wall. The leader thinks the Genius-with-hair-transplants is a superstar, despite destroying a globally recognised brand. Inspired by this, Spez is trying to get Reddit ready for an IPO. This means, maximise profits by any means.

  • maegul@lemmy.mlEnglish
    77·
    9 months ago

    Yea it feels like something has been rotten with the ads industry for a long while. I’ve read a few pieces here and there about how it could collapse and that it’s built almost entirely on dumb lies. But it’s still here.

    I’m no economist, but my best guess is that it’s a little like war and the effort we put into it. Complete trashy waste almost all the time, except for when one person or country decides to put effort into it, because then you have to as well or run huge risks. We’d all be better off without ads, including brands/companies, but when one is doing it every company has to too.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
      364·
      9 months ago

      Ads are meant to get brand recognition out there for most things. Then when you’re in a store you buy what you’ve heard of before. They wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t effective.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2413·
        9 months ago

        You’re putting too much faith in the talent and insight of marketing executives. Large companies throw tens of millions of dollars at their marketing department. They’ll spend the money on a diverse ad campaign that ticks boxes, not one that is actually effective. People don’t buy based on the commercial they saw last. People buy what’s shoved in their faces.

          • CustodialTeapot@lemmy.worldEnglish
            191·
            9 months ago

            Absolutely spot on reply.

            Brand recognition and memory triggers is what big brand ads are about.

            Cleanex, Hoover, Coke, most cologne/perfume ads, Old Spice…

            • JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.eeEnglish
              1·
              9 months ago

              Brand recognition and memory triggers is what big brand ads are about.

              Cleanex, Hoover, Coke, most cologne/perfume ads, Old Spice…

              Late reply, but-- the above makes much sense to me when it comes to inexperienced / first-time buyers of a product. And/or buyers who simply get in to a rut and keep buying that product without trying anything else out.

              But for everyone else, I would think they sample enough tissues, sodas, perfumes, etc to gain an understanding of the ins & outs of a product, settling on choices which best represent their favorites / desired price point. For bigger-cost stuff like vacuum cleaners, I’m thinking people in this group also learn to use review resources to evaluate best choices rather than buy a Hoover just because some ads ran.

              So what does this all mean? Aside from overlap between these two groups, that there’s enough revenue being produced by the former childlike group such that ad systems can afford to almost completely ignore the latter, more adult group…?

      • Gray@lemmy.caEnglish
        61·
        9 months ago

        The most effective ads I’ve seen in my lifetime have been podcast ads. I don’t remember shit I see in mobile apps or on most corners of the internet. I could personally sell Blue Apron or Harry’s Razors for all I’ve heard about them on podcasts though. The smartest companies allow the podcasters to joke around in their ads too. My Brother, My Brother, and Me will say some borderline offensive but hilarious stuff in their ads and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t keep me listening to their ads and hearing about the products being advertised.

      • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
        44·
        9 months ago

        You’ve forgotten the second layer of advertising, convincing companies they need to buy ads

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
          52·
          9 months ago

          Yeah, you go ahead and try to sell something to a mass market of people without ads or any brand recognition and let me know ow how that goes for you.

      • Scubus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        13·
        9 months ago

        With very, very few exceptions, any time I see an ad I make a mental note to never buy that product. As such, most products I am familiar with(presumably because I saw an ad) I will not buy. The exception is pretty much just Hershey’s chocolate bars, I can’t live without them.

        • quicklime@lemm.eeEnglish
          22·
          9 months ago

          You had me on board until… Hershey’s chocolate? That’s not even chocolate anymore, it’s like putrid brown wax!

      • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        9 months ago

        And by definition it’s still nothing but systematic brain washing. It’s actually very 1984, and I can’t understand how some people are ok with being manipulated into buying shit 24/7 and think that global perpetual invasive advertising is this perfectly normal thing that humanity has always had around…

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          I think capping it 1984 is a bit extreme, but I do agree with the overall sentiment. We’ve gone wag overboard in trying to monetize evert aspect of modern life. It gets old.