[gjsman-1000]

So gasp, parents have to use the hardest word in the English language and do their job? Heaven forbid.

[splwjs]

This take shows up a lot and it's a bad one.

"I can surround your child with dangerous unhealthy things and do my best to corrupt and poison them, there should be no limit to this behavior whatsoever because if I succeed it's your fault for being bad parents! All you have to do is say no, it's not like it's my full time job to make end-runs around you with the aid of behavioral science and psychology and a budget, no no no guiding your children morally is as simple as saying no once, are you too stupid and lazy to do that?".

[ziddoap]

Your comment is one extreme.

"Parents should just say no" is another extreme.

I would put money on the best solution being somewhere between those two extremes.

[vundercind]

… what’s the second extreme expressed here? I see the same one stated two ways.

[ziddoap]

gjsman-1000 says that all responsibility falls to the parent for failing to say no.

splwjs says that corporations have the responsibility because they spend billions on psychological manipulation campaigns.

[candiddevmike]

There are a lot of parents that don't/can't say no. Those are the whales these advertisers are hunting for. The ones who's parents do say no and are "left out" or bullied are just collateral damage.

[chihuahua]

Also, it's not just saying "no" once. It's a hundred times a day, every day, for years.

[drawkward]

My teenager has a mom who abandoned him to me when he was two, but is more than happy to send him money on any of several apps.

Your view of the world lacks much nuance.