Sven Slootweg on Nostr: This is a really common argument I hear, but it falls flat when actually scrutinized: ...
This is a really common argument I hear, but it falls flat when actually scrutinized: because advertising, in the sense that it is meant here, is fundamentally based on *asymmetry*.
The whole point of advertising, and advertising spend, is to elevate your presence above that of the competition. Which is to say, every dollar you spend on advertising is a dollar you spend on *reducing* the discoverability of your competition, ie. of other options.
Since there are more competitors (who lose discoverability) than there are "you"s (who gains discoverability), this means that every dollar towards advertising is a net-loss for total discoverability; most things become *less* visible, only one thing more so.
If we designed our society around discovery of options, it wouldn't look like advertising. It would look more like an ad-free phone book, or perhaps a consumer-reports-style comparison table or facet-based search engine. Crucially, there would fundamentally be no relation between ad spend and discoverability.
TL;DR: Advertising does not actually serve improved discovery of options and in fact does the opposite, that's just the moral fig leaf the industry uses to justify its "social license to operate".
The whole point of advertising, and advertising spend, is to elevate your presence above that of the competition. Which is to say, every dollar you spend on advertising is a dollar you spend on *reducing* the discoverability of your competition, ie. of other options.
Since there are more competitors (who lose discoverability) than there are "you"s (who gains discoverability), this means that every dollar towards advertising is a net-loss for total discoverability; most things become *less* visible, only one thing more so.
If we designed our society around discovery of options, it wouldn't look like advertising. It would look more like an ad-free phone book, or perhaps a consumer-reports-style comparison table or facet-based search engine. Crucially, there would fundamentally be no relation between ad spend and discoverability.
TL;DR: Advertising does not actually serve improved discovery of options and in fact does the opposite, that's just the moral fig leaf the industry uses to justify its "social license to operate".