you ever think about the insidious, pervasive nature of advertising nowadays and start to feel violent?
I open a news article on my phone’s browser and three ads pop up to fight the entire screen for space. I cannot read the article, and when I try to exit the ad, I accidentally click on it and get redirected.
I play a game on a console that is connected to the internet; the main page has a news feed advertising games I should buy or pre-order. How about this DLC?
I pay for gas and an ad plays on the touchscreen at the pump at full volume — because I am outside and they don’t want me to miss it. By the way, did you sign up for our gas station specific credit card?
I sit outside to bask in the sun. The clouds look great. A plane flies by towing a banner advertising alcohols you should be drinking at the beach.
I walk down the street in town and pass by a digital kiosk meant to give directions. But before it does that, it tells me I should catch an uber. There are a few in my area! Buy an uber. Download the uber app. Scan this QR code to uber.
I watch a music video; there are conspicuously placed bottles of a specific brand of champagne and the artist is wearing headphones I should definitely buy.
I go to a science expo to get information about services offered by subsidiary companies that have or will probably be bought by ThermoFisher within the year. I am forced to give my email to a sales rep to get any information and will return to fifteen emails advertising shit I absolutely do not need and did not talk to the rep about.
I check my mail and because my information is registered with credit unions and I have a registered car with an address on file, I have fifteen letters asking me to sign up for a credit card, swap my insurance to GEICO, wait no, State Farm, Progressive, Liberty Mu—
I enter a store where I am already spending money. TV screens hang overhead to remind me of their deals. A pre-recorded message plays every ten minutes reminding me that I can sign up for the store’s credit card. Don’t you want another credit card? Don’t you want to spend more money?
I open tumblr, Instagram, facebook, twitter, bluesky — every four posts I am served an ad if I am on my phone and not a computer (who has a computer these days when you have phone!). I’ve gotten so used to this that my scroll speed changes to get fast enough to skip it without even acknowledging it.
I try to watch a video on my TV and YouTube asks me if I’d like to send the ad to my phone. So I can buy. Don’t you want to buy this? Why aren’t you buying it already? Is this a bad ad? Tell us if these ads are tailored to your interests so we can market to you better even though we cross reference all your data and the accounts your emails are connected to with the people in your home or network and the links you send that you forget to take the tracking IDs off of.
Nooooo, don’t reject non-essential cookies, you’re so sexy aha. We use those to advertise to you. Don’t you want to be advertised to? Use this machine to think for you so we can advertise to you. Even when you search for something online on your own, don’t sweat it, we will now advertise things to you by default because money talks not the actual product’s efficacy.
