Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by regentbowerbird 996 days ago
> Ads are no more psychological manipulation at scale than words in general.

"no more" in your sentence implies the impact is roughly the same (not that I agree with your premise that all communication is manipulation, unless your definition of "manipulation" is so vast as to be useless).
1 comments
endisneigh 996 days ago
No more does not imply equality, just that it's not greater than, which is simply the truth. Advertisements are not inherently more manipulative than words in general.

If the subject was propaganda, instead of advertising, then sure.

link
tristor 996 days ago
> If the subject was propaganda, instead of advertising, then sure.

What do you think advertising is? It's propaganda for a product.

link
endisneigh 996 days ago
No, it is not. Advertising could be propaganda, but it is not inherently so.
link