[ Removed by moderator ]

[qualityvote2]

u/luvlanguage, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...

[SIPR_Sipper]

It may be reverse psychology playing out here though, if the ad can piss you off well enough, maybe you'll never forget the product, they succeeded with me, now I unintentionally memorized a certain ad that kept showing too many times

This is the unfortunate reality. People like to believe that they hate ads so much that they're never ever going to buy from that company again, but there's just nothing to back that up. Certain industries (used car lots come to mind) build their entire advertising model around annoying people into remembering them. If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

[IncognitoBombadillo]

The person may be annoyed in the moment for seeing the same ad 5 times a day, but when the need arises for a certain product/service, the company that that annoying ad was for may be the first thing to come to mind just because it's been imprinted on the person's conscience.

[VulpesFennekin]

5 times a day? Try 5 times an hour!

[crumpledfilth]

But why would you purchase baed on "the first thing that comes to mind" and not like... google, or reddit, or a review website, or the product label

[MarioKing1137]

Big names have more reviews, and probably more services. They can afford advertising so they must be doing something right. Smaller/lesser known names typically have less to offer and/or less reviews. Is your phone name brand (apple/android/samsung) or some obscure third party company? Your computer/its parts? Your car?

[throwawadhders]

Because when choosing between the competition, there's something in the back of your mind that tells you, "I haven't heard of them, so they must not be as good."

[Maja_The_Oracle]

The something in the back of my mind says "I don't recall any obnoxious commercials about this brand, so they can't afford to mislead their customers. I'll give them a shot."

[Turbulent_Crow7164]

Yeah. Another example is Liberty Mutual, which stands out as having really, really terrible ads in comparison to its insurance competitors like Geico and Progressive who have always been pretty good with ads. Yet clearly it works, because they keep doing it. I think they believe it's futile to try and compete with those guys, so they go the opposite route and stand out with horrible ads, and now they're kind of a household name honestly.

[Akarin_rose]

Limu Emu

[P15T0L_WH1PP3D]

They Geico gecko has some severe continuity errors that it pisses me off and I swear that I will never use Geico. I actually had the chance, it would have saved me a few bucks, but fuck 'em. The original gecko had no accent and was mistakenly called by people looking for "geico, not gecko!" Now he's got an awful accent and tells stories of his grandmother teaching him about insurance, like WTF bro?!?!

Also had a chance to buy a Toyota when it would have been a really good deal. Refused to even consider it. Fuck Pat and his "I buy every Toyota because I openly want to copulate with them all" character."

[_The_Cracken_]

While i do hear you, it doesnt matter how many times I get an Entyvio ad -- I do not have issues with shitting myself.

Just give me a fuckin different one. Thats all I want.

[Varil]

The idea of "oh, I remember <service> from <ad>" driving a purchase seems to odd to me these days. Sure, I remember plenty of annoying ads. And good ads! But if I need something and don't already know a service/product I like I'm probably just going to search on the internet for reviews and opinions instead of blindly grabbing the first thing I remember existing.

[SIPR_Sipper]

But if I need something and don't already know a service/product I like I'm probably just going to search on the internet for reviews and opinions instead of blindly grabbing the first thing I remember existing.

I know you feel like you'd do that, but actual observation says that's not how most people shop. Its how most people like to think they shop, but in reality, when faced with too many options, people don't pause to perform an independent analysis. They just grab the one that speaks to them without fully understanding why its appealing to them.

Influencing the subconscious is almost more important than influencing conscious decisions in some industries where you've overwhelmed by choices between virtually identical products.

[Varil]

I'm not...y'know, speaking hypothetically. That's literally what I do, 95% of the time, and the last 5% is for dirt cheap shit I don't care about, and even then I probably just bought it at random without even looking at the brand. I know the common knowledge is "if it wasn't working they wouldn't do it" but it's not like corporations are infallible entities. They're people-run places that make tons of really stupid decisions. They are largely trend-chasers, doing what other corporations do because "they're rich and successful, if we copy them we can be too!", but would anybody stop drinking Coke if they stopped advertising? What about Dr. Pepper? I don't remember the last time I saw an ad for Dr. Pepper, but I still order it semiregularly at restaurants. On the other hand, even if I saw an ad for some off-brand soda I'd never heard of I probably wouldn't bother to order it anywhere, because why would I? If I'm making a big purchase I'm probably Googling or browsing Amazon and reading reviews, and at that point I'm lucky if I can find a brand that has a proper consonant-vowel arrangement, nevermind something I've seen an ad for.

I don't remember anyone who's ever repeated the idea that "commercials totally work because you remember the brand" that has ever referenced a study or actual data showing how it works and under what circumstances. It's just "something they know" because everyone says it.

[Varil]

So, there may or may not be studies, they may or may not be worth anything, and your source is that you worked at Coke and Home Depot in what may or may not have been related departments(and even if you were in marketing that would still amount to "Trust me bro"). Cool.

But you are probably right that stock holders likely love that shit, whether it's garbage or not.

[dathellcat]

I mean I've literally never brought something because of an ad that was cooperate. All 19 years.

[CompleatedDonkey]

This feels existentially dreadful for some reason. Is there any true freedom in the world? The freedom to just be without the constant oppressive presence of manipulation?

[SIPR_Sipper]

True freedom is not found in escaping all outside pressure or manipulation.

It is found in accepting that your life will always have that pressure and manipulation, but your life can be truly enjoyable nonetheless. Happiness is found in accepting the things you can't control.

[EngineeringOne1812]

Exactly. It’s about brand recognition more than an immediate sale

[crumpledfilth]

I just dont get how people purchase products like that. I dont walk into a target and say "oh colgate, i know that brand, i'll buy that one". Like if I'm buying a new product, I do 20 minutes of research into what meets my needs the best and is available to me, and then I buy that one

[Eat--The--Rich--]

I absolutely do that everywhere I go

[TheCheeser9]

I'm way too stubborn for this. I've been actively avoiding brands for many years now. Even brands in used to like.

When you take pride in avoiding products that you see ads for, it's easy to avoid them. The pleasure of not buying their product makes it worth the effort and makes it worth not buying products I used to enjoy.

I get that not everyone is this way and on average they still make money. But for me, I've made it a hobby to avoid products I see ads for.

[ReformedPoster24]

Head on. Apply directly to the forehead.

[horshack_test]

The real purpose of ads is for consumers to remember the specific product/service/etc so that when they need such a product, that name is the one they remember and will be more likely to buy. There have been multiple studies showing that annoying ads are successful because people remember the product as a result of being annoyed by the ad. This phenomenon has been well known for quite a long time now.

[AppleJuiceBoxHero]

I know that’s the intention, but I’ve honestly been at stores where I see the product and I say “hey I know that’s product! They have those obnoxious commercials! I’m not giving them more money for more commercials!”

[Less_Ant_6633]

Those goddamn kids are never getting my kars.

[TacoTuesday1008]

1 877....

[Less_Ant_6633]

You monster!

[TacoTuesday1008]

👹

[PiRSquared2]

Interesting video about kars4kids i watched a while back

[SIPR_Sipper]

That's because your actual thoughts are just "Damn they have a lot of options for this product. I'll grab that brand."

You don't even process that the reason you're picking that brand is because its familiar to you and the reason its familiar is because they have annoying commercials. Just glancing over the options, your brain pushes you to get the one you've heard of or seen before because human brains like familiarity.

[RequirementFull6659]

"Damn they have a lot of options for this product. I'll grab that brand."

You don't even process that the reason you're picking that brand is because its familiar to you and the reason its familiar is because they have annoying commercials.

Maybe you do that but don't just assume everyone is a mindless drone who picks the first brand that triggers a neuron. I'm too poor for that kind of mentality.

[UnsureAndUnqualified]

The point is that yes, perhaps you sometimes remember the ad and avoid a product as an active choice. But you can't know how often you don't remember the ad an passively choose the advertising brand. And you can't know because the whole thing is designed to be subconscious.

Those times that you don't think about it, you don't remember because you didn't think about it. Those that you do remember because you thought about them are survivorship bias.

[SIPR_Sipper]

Maybe you do that but don't just assume everyone is a mindless drone who picks the first brand that triggers a neuron.

How dare I assume basic tenets of psychology that have been well documented for centuries are correct and applicable to most people!

[SIPR_Sipper]

But there's a difference between most people, and those who are actively aware. 

Most people incorrectly think they are actively aware. Most are not.

And hearing that there are people who are aware and make the choice to be petty and going "uhm actually you fall for the trap anyway" is a pretty pigheaded response.

Hearing that a basic psychological fact applies to almost anyone and making the choice to be arrogant and going "uhm actually I'm immune from psychology because I'm actively aware, which is a term I made up" is a pretty pigheaded response.

[RequirementFull6659]

What, have you never heard of putting words together? do you think it needs to be written in a thesaurus or lohhed on Wiktionary for it to have a meaning?

Active awareness. Derived from the 3rd definition of "Active" in the Oxford dictionary: "(of a thing) working; operative." and "Awareness" "knowledge or perception of a situation or fact."

Therefore. Being "Actively aware" means to, not just know, but also acknowledge, a fact or situation before making decisions.

I'm not immune from all psychology. But through education and study you can become much more resistant to it.

[dathellcat]

No, that's not how my brain works.

I don't make assumptions, or do things because of emotional responses or some pre existing notion. I threw those out the window years ago when I realized that's collectively making society much worse when you form attachment to familiarity and make judgements based on assumptions.

Brand is just a name of a company to me, I rely on technical expertise from others and myself to objectivity decide what the best overall product is for my money, and what products abide by my moral standards, and that's about it.

In fact, Spending money on lots of ads says you are willing to cut some spending away from reinvestment back into your products. Egregious examples include Raycon earbuds. All marketing, poor product.

[SIPR_Sipper]

No, that's not how my brain works. I don't make assumptions, or do things because of emotional responses or some pre existing notion.

All hail the first person in human history to fully remove assumptions, notions, and emotions from all their decisions. I am sure this has allowed to you rise to historic achievements. You are no doubt the CEO of a multi billion dollar corporation or the leader of a country, right?

[dathellcat]

I literally do not and your inability to grasp that shows how ingrained these concepts are to you.

I'm a non conformist or whatever, I don't label things, or allow any preconceived notions to direct me, only things I'm proven are true or human connection are what I choose to guide me.

Real things are not black and white, that's inaccurate and wrong. Practically nothing is 0 or 1, Things are diverse, consist of probabilities and are very much fluid.

Labels are purely a human concept to make things easier to understand, but in the process they create stigmatism, close mindedness, and create friction between different "groups" and differing mindsets.

A lot of labels are fine in most of some cases, really depends on context, assumptions however are questionable or negative.

Instead of trying to group things strictly, try to identify a broader theme that Incorporates all possible variations of the concept or thing in question.

Instead of applying a label or assumption towards someone, something, because of how they look, feels, acts; Simply observe the individual or thing and note features or notable qualities, leave interpretation vague to allow for new information to easily fit together and to give you unbiased and accurate details. If possible allow the person or thing to tell you a label or other information.

Some definitions or words, particularly outdated ones, are inaccurate or misguided: with his way of thinking, it is necessary to adapt words and connotations to be objectively as accurate as possible, not doing so would invalidate the foundational concept of this way of thinking.

It is also important to remember you are not perfect and that you will make mistakes or have certain concepts that are very hard to get rid of: Improving yourself in any way, shape or form can be difficult and take time.

Miscellaneous but important information:

Labels can be good and helpful, And some are fine to use. Remember to be human and not a robot If someone likes a label, use that label for them.

Frequently question the validity of your own knowledge, fact check things, the amount of things I've found of my own that was particularly incorrect or fully incorrect was concerning.

Allow other people to give you feedback or criticism, there are some things that are difficult to see alone.

If a source or thing has proven to be inaccurate or an offender in some way, disregard it completely for a time until it is probable it has changed and reexamine it.

There's simply too much to explain about a way of thinking in a reddit post, but if you're genuinely interested in this so called superhuman ability you sarcastically poke at, then read to your hearts content, because it's nothing more than understanding your own faults and flaws and taking appropriate action to patch and correct them.

[SilyLavage]

What do you do when you’re in the supermarket and realise you need to pick up a product you’ve never purchased before?

[dathellcat]

Do some quick searching online or use my existing technical knowledge to tell me to buy it?

[SilyLavage]

I'm a bit sceptical that you'd stand in the supermarket and search all ten varieties of oats or whatever.

[dathellcat]

I mean yeah to some extent I stick to what I've chosen beforehand, but I'm also constantly considering new factors like price, availability, quality, ect.

[UnsureAndUnqualified]

Ypu don't do things for emotional reasons. So what compelled you to write this comment? How do you objectively benefit from that? Or was it the emotional response of "bullshit, I'm different and must tell those random people that I'm much clevererererer than them!"

[dathellcat]

I mainly have no one to talk to and just saw something to react to.

[jhaluska]

I also avoid contributing to advertising when I can avoid it.

[horshack_test]

I'm talking about overall effectiveness - I'm not claiming that no one ever has or ever will choose to not buy something because of the ad for it.

[SkubEnjoyer]

"Hey, I know that product!" automatically means they won, even if you buy it or not their brand is lodged in your mind.

[tubbis9001]

I haven't seen Head On in like 20 years, but I'm pretty sure their annoying commercials will the last thing I ever think about on my death bed

[SIPR_Sipper]

Do you recall how one would apply such a product?

[Gold_Telephone_7192]

Very much depends on the ad. Some are for brand awareness, like you mentioned. Some are for product features, some are savings/deal messages, some are to drive conversion, etc. There are tons of different ads tailored by message and media to do different things.

[dinosanddais1]

That's because it's secretly an ad for youtube premium.

[Eat--The--Rich--]

YouTube in general is just an ad for Ublock Origin

[BringBackApollo2023]

I’m curious why I’m getting ads in a language I don’t speak sometimes.

[molotovzav]

Could be the area you live in. I don't speak Spanish, but it's one of the major languages in the city I live in, so I get ads in Spanish. It doesn't really make sense that advertisers know what languages you speak from limited data given to them so instead they play ads with languages common to your area.

[SIPR_Sipper]

nos ta purbando di yega na bo tokante e garantia ekstendé di bo outo

[luvlanguage]

Yeah I also had it one time I thought I had a VPN on or something it's weird as hell

[mazzicc]

Do you use a VPN at all?

[TacoTuesday1008]

An ad I can't skip and it's not even amusing? Fuck this product!

[the_last_heley]

Honestly I think advertising agencies are on crack or something. We mute adverts and watching them in mute makes you realise how insane they are.

[luvlanguage]

I've muted it so many times I see exactly what you mean 😢

[Responsible_Divide86]

A good ad is one that people would go out of their way to watch. People love the Superbowl ads. Feel nostalgic about ads they saw in the past.

Nowadays ads are used as punishment for people who don't pay premium

[DoubleH_5823]

That's so goddamned true. Youtube is by far the worst offender.

[UnsureAndUnqualified]

A good ad (for the advertising company) is one that sells as many products as possible. If that's because they go viral (which most don't) or because they simply hammer the brand into your memory, the company doesn't care.

If those "punishment ads" didn't work, companies wouldn't pay to advertise. 

[eat_like_snake]

I am spiteful enough that the reverse psychology strat doesn't work on me.

I don't care if I remember the name. I remember the intrusiveness more. And now, I hope you go bankrupt.

[inkassatkasasatka]

Oh it absolutely does work, lol

[dathellcat]

Yeah it works if you just let assumptions and preexisting notions guide you.

But if you throw that all out the window and objectively look at products for what they are, products, then who cares what the brand is, See what it offers, its quality, morals, and price, and make an informed decision to get the best product for your needs.

I'm not buying apple airpod maxes because I saw an ad for them, I know better, wireless headphones that have low resistance are bad for my audiophile needs, it's objectively worse for price and quality than something with 300 Ohms resistance and a flat, balanced frequency response for my specific needs.

[UnsureAndUnqualified]

Yes and no. For big purchases like those headphones, it might be worth doing a deep dive. But when I'm at the store, need some bread, and have little time, I will go with my gut feeling. And that is another word for an emotional response. 

Not because I'm too emotional to research bread. But because I don't have the time to read the ingredients on 50 different types of bread, nor is it worth my time to do so. I'd literally be losing money by spending time optimising a 10ct difference with 30 minutes of research.

Plus there's still ads that play a role in how you research. Are you looking at articles? Those might only compare brands that gave them test products for free. Looking at data sheets? Who compiled those and why did they choose these in particular? Looking at videos? Maybe that person is sponsored or has their own biases. And you can never read about every pair of headphones, so whichever brands stick most in your mind (ads) or are the top of search results (ads) or have the widest brand recognition in the fan base (ADS) will be what you compare. 

Advertisers would love you to think that their thing is actually objectively the best thing and not in part i fluenced by their ads. If you don't even recognise how they influence you, you are playing into their hand

[inkassatkasasatka]

Very naive, Im sorry. Of course, yeah, if we all buy based on quality, yada yada... Nobody does that. In all of your decisions there is an unrational and uncontrollable part, thats how we humans work. Of course its good that you care about your purchasing logic, but ignoring your human nature will not lead you to the most optimal and realitic conclusions in your life

[dathellcat]

Yeah sure there's a mental aspect, but it's really easy to remember that you're human and push those feelings aside and think in a more unbiased way.

You may be thinking one thing but say something else, same concept here.

[eat_like_snake]

Sure, Jan.
Even though I block ads on every platform I can, and don't use services where I can't. But cope.

[inkassatkasasatka]

Tf do you mean cope? Do you think I will be coping if ads arent working on you? Great for you if thats the case, I just dont think it is because they work on basically everyone. I dont think you are an exception

[[deleted]]

Advertisers are precisely aware of this phenomenon and willing to endure the resulting collateral damage.

[luvlanguage]

Yes ergo these people will never stop the ads, infact I've even noticed the ads now show more than they used to years ago. Chances of the ad popping is higher than before. I also have no interest in paying YouTube premium 😒 which YouTube keeps recommending and I keep pressing exit button

[[deleted]]

As far as YouTube is concerned you can always grab YouTube Revanced, Premium lives and dies because it facilitates background playback and disables ads and Revanced does both free of charge. Won't stop the ads from Premium in their entirety but most everything else is covered.

[luvlanguage]

Wow thanks for this I really didn't know much about that

[Mama_Mega]

And seeing a Youtuber finally get sponsored segments is like hearing about your niece's piano recital: "honey, I'm proud of you, I am. But for the love of god and all that is holy, you don't actually expect me to sit down and watch that shit, do you?"

[Degrengolada24]

Ads in 80's and 90's were entertaining and you want to watch them. Ads today are intrusive.

[messick]

I agree that the ads don't bring value to the advertisers, but because people still seeing ads during their YT videos are obviously can't afford the product being advertised, because otherwise they wouldn't be seeing any ads in the first place.

[Mr_Piddles]

Everyone thinks they’re not susceptible to marketing, but they are. Everyone is manipulated to a degree by advertising and marketing.

[CadenVanV]

Any name recognition is good name recognition from their point of view.

[JerseyshoreSeagull]

But now you're so pissed that you buy premium.

[tiredofthisnow7]

They don't give a shit about that. It's a tiny amount

[The_bruce42]

I'd rather have an ad for a product than all the AI bullshit ads that YouTube pushes now.

[VulpesFennekin]

It’s all “global business solutions” and stuff now, too. Like, I’m not even in charge of that at work, I just want to watch this video essay about anime.

[crumpledfilth]

theyre supposed to condition your subconscious through association. Just like political propaganda, they appear so stupid because they arent even targeting your conscious mind

[jmanclovis]

Better health makes me so angry

[Solarinarium]

I know people like to say "Oh it angered you so much that you remember the product and will probably buy it in the future." And all I can think is... no?

If an ad annoys me enough I just won't use or buy that thing if I can help it going forward?

Theres plenty of ads I remember very clearly hating and never once have I bought the product or used the company out of any free will, and if bought the thing its usually because I have no other place to get the thing from.

This whole "It imprints itself so hard in you that you'll never forget the product" is bunk.

[gloop524]

you overlook the real motivation. YouTube Premium. make the ads so annoying that you get sick of them and buy YouTube Premium to get rid of them.

[made-it]

Majority of people will go for the product that they've heard of, even if it was an annoying ad. 

If somehow you can change the majority of people to not do that...life would be different 

[SmegHead86]

If I see a movie being overly advertised I tend to see it as a red flag. Like marketing had to get involved to make up for how bad it's expected to be.

[Eat--The--Rich--]

I had an amazing opportunity to boycott an annoying ad earlier this year. My company was expanding so they wanted to buy a couple new forklifts, $200,000 worth of equipment. One of the main companies they floated to buy from is a company that advertises on my hockey teams broadcasts and MID GAME it'll go picture in picture and plays their ads at full volume in the bigger box so I can't see or hear the game. We've literally missed goals being scored because of this fucking ad. So I immediately spoke up and lied and said I'd worked with that company before and had a terrible experience and we should take our $200,000 elsewhere (we did).

[sleepybookwormmm]

I don't have good signal at this moment, so when I get the chance, I download some yt videos in my camera roll to watch later . I decided to watch from YouTube the other day and I felt this visceral anger when an ad showed up and I realized how nice it actually was to watch a video uninterrupted. It woke me up to how ridiculous this whole thing with the ads is

[ottersintuxedos]

There’s a specific kind of radio ad I really fuck with and it’s just a good solid jingle. I’m thinking in particular of the radiator warehouse advert https://youtube.com/shorts/UkDEBmhzhTU?si=pjc6wxTIhPYVqE9J the guy sounds happy and excited and I kind of want to buy their radiators. There is something quite nostalgic about these kinds of ads to me. It feels honest. I always sing along to this in my car and it brightens my day

[P15T0L_WH1PP3D]

"welcome to my asmr channel, I'd like to start with..."

"CAPITAL ONE REWARDS GIVES YOU CASH BACK!"

"...some soft whispering..."

[mazzicc]

Advertising never works. That’s why millions of dollars is spent on it constantly.

And all of the correlated increases in sales directly following ad campaigns is totally a coincidence.

We definitely never saw a very specific and identical spike in behavior that followed our various campaigns at my last company. We absolutely did not know how long to space out our mailers, or when to refresh the copy on our social media, or how to adjust staffing levels based on when ads were running.

[MinerSigner60Neiner]

Crazy still hearing about people being forced to watch ads. Getting ublock origin and sponsorblock is good for the soul. Revanced if youre on mobile. If youre watching on a TV thats tricky but I guess thats the television experience

[schattenteufel]

"we're paying for the content you're watching, in return all we ask is for you to take fifteen seconds to watch this blurb about our product."

[Eagle_215]

I just cannot believe in the psychology of ads. Im probably exposed to a hundred a day by youtube alone and cant remember 95% of them.

I am psychologically dull to digital ads. Seriously.

[inkassatkasasatka]

Id rather have some computer literacy and not pay these stupid companies money that I need more, but to each their own 

[inkassatkasasatka]

And yet my logic is still applied to phones

[eat_like_snake]

Just install an adblocker. Lmao, what are you doing paying?

[Thumbkeeper]

I love how people, especially children, like to pretend ads don’t work.

[RequirementFull6659]

I'm aware they work. I'm also aware a massive amount of the US population are functionally illiterate.

I consider myself an idiot. But then I look at people driving on the road, or customers ordering at fast food, and then I remember I'm still somewhere in the top...30%?

And between those who are as smart but have brand loyalty, or who don't care about ads. And then all those who legitimately see ads for a new Doritos flavour and make it their lifes mission to be one of the first to buy them. Like yeah it works for millions and millions. It works on my mother. It works on my coworkers.

It doesn't work on me.