[anonymars]

Um, off the top of my head:

"You'll be happier if you purchase this thing"

"You're not good enough as you are now, but you will be if you purchase this thing"

"Other people you admire or respect have purchased this thing, and if you do too you'll be more like them"

"Other people will like you more if you purchase this thing"

"You'll be more attractive if you purchase this thing"

"This thing will be worth more in the future so if you purchase this thing it will make you money"

"This is your only chance to purchase this thing, so if you don't it now you'll miss out on this price"

I don't think any of them has to do with how awesome "the thing" itself is. Obviously there's more to, say, an expensive watch, than its ability to tell time

[cm2012]

The only products that sell this in advertising actually provide those brand features. Essentially people pay money to increase their perceived status.

Like, if you sell a luxury handbag. When people buy it, they know 70% of the value comes from the advertising saying "this is a high value product" as a status signal. I think that's really dumb, but that's what people want.

It also existed a long time before ads itself did.

[tremon]

> they know 70% of the value comes from the advertising

So, you are aware that advertising is in large part responsible for shaping what is perceived as high-value status signals in society. You're also aware that for certain products the only distinction between those and their alternatives is that specific high-value association.

How come you started out from the position that advertising is "just showing off different aspects of the product" then?

[Dylan16807]

So you've never seen like, a beer ad that promises status and attractiveness?

[anonymars]

Similarly, something must have been missing from the AXE body spray instructions

[cm2012]

Beer/liquor is in the same category of status good. People pay a lot to show the brand.

[Dylan16807]

Some liquor brands are like that. 95% or more of beer ads that imply status are just lying to you.

[SR2Z]

If anonymous billboards or banner ads can convince you you aren't good enough, your life is probably not great with or without ads.

If an ad convinces you to, say, get a gym membership or go on Ozempic, who's to say what happens next? Maybe you do start feeling better about yourself.

[somenameforme]

They don't consciously convince you directly anymore than a slot machine convinces you to give it one more spin - it's done on a subconscious level. For instance one of the most famous, and effective, ads in history is Apple's 1984 ad. [1] A 59 second ad where the only mention of what's being sold at all happens in about 1 second with a reference to a brand name and then a logo. See: ELM model and peripheral processing. [2] And this is all day one advertising stuff.

Advertising is a horrific industry. It probably always was, but at the modern scales, it's outright dystopic. I think there's simply a large amount of cognitive dissonance around this issue because advertising drives the paychecks of a whole lot of people, and it's rather difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvjbmoDx-I

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaboration_likelihood_model#P...

[vladvasiliu]

While I agree with your point about understanding, I think there's also an issue of self-image. "What? Me? Influenced by some ad? Get outta here! I make my own decisions!"