Oh Advertisers, Part 1

Originally posted to LinkedIn, here.

You dumpster-dive all our “exhaust” data.

Compile, sell, buy, remix and analyze it.

Get to know our unconscious desires and buying impulses better than we do.

Fill our world with (noisy and distracting) offers we find hard to resist.

Most of which we don’t need at all.

Most of which don’t live up to (or even match) what the offers say.

But you still expect us to trust you!

Damn.

The weirdest thing is that we've normalized this dynamic.

So much so that several of the most valuable companies on the planet rely on advertising.

We don't think twice about this Faustian bargain.

But the most dangerous thing is how this model has changed our world (here's a clue).

More on that, next post.

(I'm channeling 30 years of active inquiry, sparked by the word "consumer." I'd love to know what you think. If you're in the advertising industry, get in touch.)

#advertising, #marketing, #trust, #betrayingtrust, #rethinkconstraints

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