Welcome to the club. I‘m 36 now and have seen this for the past 10+ years while its also speeding up. If I tell people they look at me with empty eyes.

Solution would be to create a movement but most people are too busy. Lmk if you want to start something.

I don't like your use of the word "capitalist". This feels more like a communist or liberal recruitment speech. (No offense or hostility intended)

I think we should focus people and the hard work they do

This isn't a recent thing, it's been going on since the beginning of psychology in the early 20th century. The doco 'The century of the self' explains it all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s

Outside of products that are themselves addicting, I don't really see any actual harm coming from advertising. Yes, I fucking hate ads, but thats because they are annoying and interrupt the things I do like. The real manipulative practices I see come pretty much from the video game's industry. Alcohol and tobacco are naturally addictive and the people who make and sell those products do rely on that for sales; but the advertising isn't making them more addictive. Games, on the other hand, are true weapons of psychological warfare.

Many development companies have psychologists on staff specifically to come up with new, stronger ways of addicting players or causing FOMO, or otherwise manipulating a small handful of the population susceptible to such a degree, they would go into ruin spending money on useless digital shit. And it's like every little thing in the game. Your eyes are generally watching a game you're enjoying a lot more than a TV ad, billboard, radio advert or other form of advertisement we are constantly bombarded with.

You ever see a video or play Call of Duty and wonder why there is so much "noise" on screen? Why it rewards you for every little thing you do? Because completing goals triggers endorphins. Instead of waiting for a win or loss of an entire game, they can hook you on the good brain chemicals by giving you tons of smaller accomplishments in rapid succession. When games have rarity levels for things you can buy with real cash, things that can literally be created out of thin air if they so desired because it's a piece of software, it's manipulating you into thinking somehow there is some scarcity in a thing that in actuality has none.

They are so good at manipulating the player, they can get you to do things subconsciously just with a few tricks of level design. A lot of this manipulation is just the nature of the beast; but plenty AAA devs weaponize the shit out of it and it's pretty scary that if they wanted to, they could likely "Manchurian Candidate" someone. Though I suppose there is some humor to be found in that violence itself in a game does little to make one violent IRL; but it actually would be possible to design a game that drives the right person to violence, if someone was sadistic enough to make such a game.

They always have and we don't really get a choice in the matter. The reason why you're noticing it increasing particularly online is because there was a time not too long ago that it didn't have any of the bullshit and in some ways they're still figuring it out.

Young girls have had this happening for decades. Today they're constantly being fed fake images and cartoonishly filtered women in videos as the base standard of beauty. They're told that their flaws are "ugly" and "embarrassing".

But buy our makeup / skincare / acne treatment / anti-fat tea and you'll finally be beautiful and people won't think you're ugly flith!!

That's the beautiful thing about weaponizing psychology; if you've done it well enough, people won't even realize that you've done it

To me the shit is as barbaric is treating cancer with chemo-therapy. It's going to be one of those things future generations look back on with total disgust and horror like the way we look back and people dumping their shit buckets into the street.

Everyone weaponizes psychology. Not just ad companies. Your boss, your friends, politicians, your child when they want you to buy them a new toy, the plot of a good book. People need to learn critical thinking.

Reminds me of Minutemen's song Shit From an Old Notebook: "Let the products sell themselves Fuck advertising, commercial psychology Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed"

Welcome to capitalism babyyyyyy

I recently found out that you can watch full youtube videos without ads if you only watch the... whatsitcalled...thumbnail?... you can even enabke the sound. No adds! That feels like a loophole. There's better solutions, but this one feels special, since it's in the official youtube app. I can't believe they left that in on accident though, but I'll take it.

That's exactly where I wanted to work, but before you hate, I wanted to get into advertising because I didn't like what I saw and thought I could do better. I got the degrees, took the psych classes, and set off to change the world for the better. Nobody hired me.

You can't buy what you don't know exists, and there are some awesome things out there. But being hammered by messages or propaganda is lazy and abusive; I don't put up with it.

So yeah, I'm an wannabe advertiser turned massive ad blocker/privacy supporter. Screw the industry.

You know all that research that gets done by colleges that gets published? You know how they're all bound by ethical guidelines about how they conduct those studies?

You know who doesn't publish their studies? You know who's not bound by those same ethical guidelines? Merely by law? You know who has way more expendable cash? And a vested interest in spending it this way?

Look into the careers of guys like Ernest Dichter or Louis Cheskin. And those guys only did it into the 80s.

Imagine the knowledge some of these companies have with smartphone usage data and shit. It's wild.

Interesting thoughts. I'd like to know how many people feel compelled to make a purchase because they see an ad rather than because they actually need or want something. My assumption is that this number is very low, but I can only speak through my own experience in my life and those who I'm close to. If someone has a sickness, I'm not sure we can blame an ad for their decision making. My wife is bipolar and has had episodes of excessive spending ($15K in a week once), but I don't blame the name brand items she purchased or restaurants she went to, she just has a condition that needs outside help.

I mean,

I don't think psychology is meant to help people.

It's neutral, neither good or evil. While you can argue it's pretty dark how deep the psychology can go, it's hard to go into a deep evaluation of that.

we had this for solid few years already https://archive.org/details/the-alt-right-playbook-how-to-radicalize-a-normiee

Yes, it's absolutely horrific where we're at. But there is an upside!

If you're able to acknowledge its existence and protect against it, you've built a tremendous foundation for preserving your mental health that will last a lifetime.

One thing I've learned over the years is that these ad companies (and the companies who deploy their services) only have control over you if you give them permission to.

• Block ads whenever you can.
• Avoid apps/websites that use dark patterns. .
• Work to improve your health (physical and mental), find meaningful tasks, be with people in real life or enjoy the outdoors alone; the less time you spend on ad territory, the less impact they will have on you.
• Buy from ethical companies, if possible.
• Avoid "influencers", people who constantly promote "sponsored content", and other strongly bias sources for your information or entertainment.

I "joke" all the time that the CIA ended their mind control programs because they succeeded and moved all if it into the private sector in advertising.

Also can't forget gaming companies that have turned many modern games into Skinner-boxes.