The concept of advertisement

Thread Starter

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
Advertisement, it's annoying huh? There's just no escape. You're bombarded by it all through the post, internet, television, telephone; you name it and it's there.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

What I'm really trying to get at is that these efforts consume money. I live in a world where if the product is as good as you say it is then it will speak for itself. Why not save that money and invest it into your product in order to develop it further?

I have never ever bought anything from an advert, cold caller, whatever. If I want something then I already know what I'm looking for.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,720
While I'm on your side, it is much more complex than that.

Advertising announces, informs, promotes, persuades, conditions, coerces, brainwashes, gain market share, etc.

The bottom line: Advertising sells.

Yes, advertising costs money and is paid for in the price of the product. The consumer pays for all advertising.
The only way to curb advertisement is to stop consuming.
 

Dr.killjoy

Joined Apr 28, 2013
1,196
Without advertising we would not know all the great things available to us.Do you really think Apple or Microsoft would be where they are at without advertising??
 

Thread Starter

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
I'm sorry, but if advertisement is what you say it is then why does AAC have a zero tolerance approach to spam here?
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
Simple to make you happy:)

kv

Edit: If you don't sign in you will see it. Once your out it's all over the place. lol

Edit,Edit: Oops maybe that's ETO.
 

Thread Starter

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
Exactly, because nobody could give two shakes of a lamb's tail what they're trying to sell. So no, advertisement doesn't sell and I rest my case with the zero tolerance policy of spam AAC enforces.
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
Exactly, because nobody could give two shakes of a lamb's tail what they're trying to sell. So no, advertisement doesn't sell and I rest my case with the zero tolerance policy of spam AAC enforces.
Just as the devils advocate; on the other hand how did you get here in the first place?

kv;)

Edit: Hopefully word of mouth. However, that in line with the first question.

Advertising is still advertising. Wanted or Un-wanted.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
Advertisement, it's annoying huh? There's just no escape. You're bombarded by it all through the post, internet, television, telephone; you name it and it's there.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

What I'm really trying to get at is that these efforts consume money. I live in a world where if the product is as good as you say it is then it will speak for itself. Why not save that money and invest it into your product in order to develop it further?

I have never ever bought anything from an advert, cold caller, whatever. If I want something then I already know what I'm looking for.
Really? Somehow I strongly doubt that you always know exactly what you are looking for whenever you've wanted something. For instance, if you have a Canon camera, how did you know that you wanted a Canon camera? How did you know that Canon even existed, let alone that they made cameras and let alone that they made a camera that you wanted to buy?
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,720
To be the devil's advocate, you would not buy something if you did not know of its existence and that could be a good thing.

The ultimate power of advertising is to sell you something you don't need.
 

Thread Starter

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
Really? Somehow I strongly doubt that you always know exactly what you are looking for whenever you've wanted something. For instance, if you have a Canon camera, how did you know that you wanted a Canon camera? How did you know that Canon even existed, let alone that they made cameras and let alone that they made a camera that you wanted to buy?
Because friends, family and colleagues make you familiar with their products because they already knew what they were looking for and somewhere down the line somebody took a chance in trying out their device and the word spread. The product speaks for itself.
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
Because friends, family and colleagues make you familiar with their products because they already knew what they were looking for and somewhere down the line somebody took a chance in trying out their device and the word spread. The product speaks for itself.
Still in line with the first question. You can't get away from it; either beat them or join them.

The later before the first. In this case both.

kv

Edit: Worth a read; I had to learn the hard way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouth
 
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GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
My Dad was in the advertising business from the 1960s through the 1990s. My favorite statistic about advertising was from the mid-1990s when political TV ads really started heavy. My dad predicted that Beers sales would drop for Budweiser and Miller. Demand (and prices) for ad space went up with the political campaign activity so the beer companies cut back their advertising. My dad was eventually proven right. The good consumer product and food companies know exactly what an ad is worth. Occasionally they stumble with message, or audience size or consumer response - but that us rare today. The OP is so sheltered. Note that he learns about products from his family. He won't admit that his family watches adds and he blindly follows while feeling un-influenced. This guy is actually a favorite of the consumer product guys - they don't have to spend big sporting event advertising dollars to influence him. They just pay for a product placement ad on some sit-com his wife watches.
 
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Thread Starter

amilton542

Joined Nov 13, 2010
497
Still in line with the first question. You can't get away from it; either beat them or join them.

The later before the first. In this case both.

kv

Edit: Worth a read; I had to learn the hard way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouth
KV I'm liking it. When I said friends, family and colleagues make you familiar with their products I should have said word of mouth!
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
I tried some advertising. Gross sales directly caused by the advertising were 30 times the cost of the advert.
It's obvious that way less than 1% of the people who saw the ad responded, but it was a serious profit from my point of view.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
I'm sorry, but if advertisement is what you say it is then why does AAC have a zero tolerance approach to spam here?
Because there is a time and place for everything and plenty of times and places that are not. AAC has chosen to foster a specific environment and part of that choice is for it to be non-commercial. That in no way means that advertising is ineffective. That would be like saying that because AAC has a zero tolerance regarding automotive modifications that no one, anywhere, should ever make automotive modifications.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
Because friends, family and colleagues make you familiar with their products because they already knew what they were looking for and somewhere down the line somebody took a chance in trying out their device and the word spread. The product speaks for itself.
And so none of your friends, family, or colleagues have ever bought anything as a result of seeing an advertisement or any other form of marketing and deciding to buy, even if just to try it out, it based on that? Amazing.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
To be the devil's advocate, you would not buy something if you did not know of its existence and that could be a good thing.

The ultimate power of advertising is to sell you something you don't need.
Sometimes yes and sometimes no (and I realize that you said "could" be a good thing).

Say I find out about a medication through advertising that addresses a long-term and debilitating condition and getting that medication drastically improves my life, then not buying it because I didn't know about it would not have been a good thing.

How many of us here have purchased something, say a development board for an MCU or whatever, because we found out about it from an ad in an electronics magazine or on an electronics website?

How many of us have tried a restaurant because of an ad on TV or in the newspaper and became a regular customer because we really liked the place but probably would never have even heard of the place if not for the advertisement?
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,720
Of course we can come up with an infinite number of examples to support either side of the argument.
I never would have known that I needed hair shampoo, shaving cream or toothpaste without advertising or someone to tell me so.
How often do we see advertisement for gasoline or drinking water?

We are conditioned into believing and accepting all forms of current human activity and behavior by what we see and observe. Does it have to be this way? Are there better ways for human society to advance? It is very difficult to think outside of the box. When do we ever stop and think if and how our world could be so much different if we didn't have automobiles, computers, internet, money or advertising?
 

sirch2

Joined Jan 21, 2013
1,037
I live in a world where if the product is as good as you say it is then it will speak for itself. Why not save that money and invest it into your product in order to develop it further?
This is just not always true though (Betamax vs VHS, Apple vs Anything). Marketing and advertising can make a a less "good" product win out. Suppose company A spends all its money on patenting and defending it's inventions, forcing competitor B to create a "less good" product but leaving company B with more money to spend on marketing, which product will you have heard of?

That Apple comment might have been a bit tongue-in-cheek since it very much depends on your view of "good". A product might be good because your favourite pop-star also uses it, or it might be good because it uses 7nm transistors rather than 10nm.

I appreciate your sense of frustration that the advertisers have gone too far and there is real risk of them putting off their customers. There is a UK based tool company that I have used for years, they are a goof firm with good customer service and a decent product range. I was signed up for their email newsletter which always landed in my spam folder and 9 times out of 10 just got deleted, sometimes I would give it a quick scan to see what was new. They changed their message format so that it started to evade my spam filters and land in my inbox, so I unsubscribed but since I like the company I thought I would let them know why I had unsubscribed. I simply could not get the message across that I was OK with the newsletter as spam, they could not see the difference.
 
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