[programjames]

I see a problem with it. It

(1) makes companies market (lie) more aggressively, because it ends up working out.

(2) makes prices irrational, because if a bunch of stupid people will buy your shit product, why would you care about the 1% who actually do their research?

[Waterluvian]

(1) But that's how commerce works. Does a product sell? Okay sell it more.

(2) People who "do their research" aren't entitled to anything. Maybe they just won't buy it? Then it's not for them. I don't understand what "makes prices irrational" would even mean in this context. The right price is whatever maximizes P * Q.

[programjames]

(1) You don't see the problem with people who are better at manipulating and lying to others through deceptive advertising getting a bigger market share? That's just so obviously bad for society.

(2) Suppose you need insulin to live, but it's suddenly become a meme to start snorting insulin and all the stupids make the price shoot through the roof. That's what stupid people "making prices irrational" looks like, and it happens with fads, or inferior products, or even allowing actual scams to be posted in online marketplaces. Happy smiles on paid actors should not be enough to make your product more appealing than your competitors', and yet the stupids will drive out of business people who don't engage in such pathological behavior.

[zombot]

This is just a fashion gimmick, not a research project on morals from first principles. Who exactly is lying through marketing here?