Consumerism, ad, every, product, craving, browsing, capitalism, distractions, download, free, user, social media
[Every] app and [every] website uses [ad]vertisements as a form of generating revenue. These can take the form of a sponsored post on Instagram, a pop-up on a solitaire app, and video [ad]s that block the screen when you’re trying to [download] a bootleg copy of a newly released movie. These [ad] spaces are purchased with the hopes that [consumers] will see the [ad] and purchase the [product], but they have become more of a nuisance than a successful marketing tactic.
Even more concerning is technology’s ability to cater to the consumer’s preferences. [Every] day, someone will be talking with a friend about a television show they remember from their childhood, or someone else will be [craving] a milkshake, and later, each of them will have an [ad] with the same topic show up on their [social media] feed. This raises the question of “can our technology hear us? If so, to what extent? Can it read our minds?” It’s comforting to think our phones and computers are not yet technologically advanced enough to do so, but with these occurrences being repeated [every]where, we can’t be sure.
About a year ago, I [download]ed [Ad]block on my computer. Since then, my web [browsing] is seamless with no [capitalist] [distractions]. Since [Ad]block was [free] to [download], I am curious about the effect it has on [ad]-buying companies. The greater number of people who [download] [ad]block is a fewer number of people seeing the [ad]s that companies pay for. Will companies lose [money] due to this phenomenon?
Today’s online [ad] culture has become problematic for both the consumer and the producer. It seems to be a mutually detrimental relationship, and the only parties that can change that are the producers of the platforms on which these [ad]-spaces are bought, and it is extremely unlikely that they will do so.
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