[nonethewiser]

> I am ok with seeing ads, until they don't track my behavior, they don't try to manipulate my decisions based on age,region,sex,location, earning status.

How do they try to manipulate you? Appeal to you, sure. Not wanting them to have your data, absolutely. But manipulate?

[alias_neo]

Abso-fucking-lutely they do.

I recall at the time of the EU referendum in the UK, I was being bombarded with video "adverts" about how Turkey was about to enter the EU, and if they did, it would be a corridor for terrorists, we'd had some incidents around that time, and so it was targeted to play on people's fears.

If only for a second, it gave me pause for thought.

I'm not here to comment on any of that, but that was the time when I realised, we _are_ being manipulated by targeted "advertising"; in what I consider the most underhanded and disgusting ways.

I'm much wiser to it now, I was always cautious before, but now I've seen the manipulation of others, and their fears; I'm constantly shooting down bullshit that family, friends and acquaintances are being targeted with on social media etc.

Fuck advertising, and targeted advertising even more so. I'll block it, and if I can't I won't use the platform, it's that simple.

[scbzzzzz]

2 instances I would like to share from my personal experience.

when I am in freshman year, I wanted to host a website and started looking online for best service, I was bombarded with google cloud ads across all websites. I thought google cloud is the best service.(I was never shown results of AWS/IBM watson, when they are far better than Google Cloud at that time). you always use web for exploring options and these ads can manipulate to pivot to one service, when it is not always the best.

after that I tried an experiment with my friends from my collage dorm. we have a proxy for our university. so only tracking I assume is done through respective google accounts.one of them has an Iphone (buys a lot on amazon), others use android. we searched for "best watches to buy", the recommendations/ads(top results) for iphone user is ~1k$(premium brands) and we were shown results of watches around 100$ etc.

I would say above results are manipulative because they will pivot our further searches, the search is not showing best watches/blogs about it. but showing results that the AI think will have higher rate of ads - buy conversion.

The above results definitely will have an impact on further searches, The iphone user will pivot his search to the top results he see which might not always be best.

[unforeseen9991]

How don't they manipulate you?

They are designed to get you to buy things you don't need, and they do that through manipulating human traits. They make you feel you will be lesser/incomplete/not as good as unless you have such and such product. This is not "appealing" to people - it's stone cold corporate manipulation with only one goal in mind.

People have way less control over how they react to what they take in then they think they do.

[BLKNSLVR]

Much advertising is psychological manipulation.

The creation of a vacuum that didn't previously exist but now needs to be filled.

Or the pointing out of a vacuum that previously went unnoticed, but is now noticed and therefore must be filled.

[_Algernon_]

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_branding

>*Emotional brands have a significant impact when the consumer experiences a strong and lasting attachment to the brand comparable to a feeling of bonding, companionship or love*. Examples of emotional branding include the nostalgic attachment to the Kodak brand of film, bonding with the Jim Beam bourbon brand, and love for the McDonald’s brand.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

>Edward Louis Bernays (/bɜːrˈneɪz/ bur-NAYZ, German: [bɛʁˈnaɪs]; November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) was an American theorist, considered a pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations".[3] His best-known campaigns include a 1929 effort to promote female smoking by branding cigarettes as feminist "Torches of Freedom", and *his work for the United Fruit Company in the 1950s, connected with the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of the democratically elected Guatemalan government in 1954*.

If you don't consider deliberate induction of emotions that imitate love, fear or hatred in order to sell product manipulative I don't know what to tell you.

[barrysteve]

Edward Bernays manipulated the populace into smoking by branding cigarettes as 'Torches of Freedom' for Feminists who were eager to push back against the social taboo.

He did a whole lot of other manipulative tricks, his wiki page is intense.

Ads are known to exploit and enflame insecurities and doubt to garner sales.

[usefulcat]

The entire point of all advertising is to get you to think or feel a certain way about something or someone. If that can't be described as 'manipulation', then I don't know what can?

[slumberlust]

As other's have said, they hire highly skilled psychologists to increase patterns associated with consumption. It's an unfair fight, like throwing a civilian in the ring with Tyson. I guess you've got a chance, but why is that fight even allowed in the first place?