[odessacubbage]

i don't even hate ads or the idea of targeted advertising in theory but 20+ years into the panopticon and the company that has the most information about my purchasing habits, interests and dislikes still has never shown me any advertising that was even remotely relevant to my life. i still have better odds of seeing something i actually want to buy just by flipping through the paper and those adverts don't demand that i put my life on pause just because corporation x spent a whole lot of money on a branding campaign that is annoying, unfunny and makes me hate them and their products.

[brokenmachine]

I love getting ads for things I've already bought.

Yes, I just bought a mattress, of course I'm interested in getting another one.

Oh, a new fridge! Always good to have a spare! Thanks Google!

Modern internet is absolutely unbearable without adblock.

[hirvi74]

This somewhat alludes to a question I have wondered for quite a while. Are there any compelling data that digital advertising even works?

Sure, if one clicks on an ad then immediately buys a product, then perhaps that would be more straightforward. However, I just do not think that is very common, but I could be wrong.

It just seems like there is some kind of false notion that if a company creates ads and the company has an increase in sales, then it must be because of the ads, when in reality, it could be entirely coincidental.

Tangental, but I intentionally boycott products that have annoying ads. I will walk to the ends of the Earth before I use GEICO, for example.