this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2024
164 points (97.1% liked)

Asklemmy

44119 readers
626 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

For me it is when companies/services market themselves as donating to XYZ cause if I buy their product. If they want to donate, they should have already done that with the money they have. Asking me to give them profit so that they can donate is so obviously pretentious.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 7uWqKj 123 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Generally yes. If I don't need it, I don't need it for free either. The price doesn't change how much I don't need a product.

Only made sense when some supermarkets had samples of hams and cheeses in those sections before COVID. Helped decide which one to buy.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Does anybody get free samples because they need them? They get them because they want them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Etterra 17 points 5 months ago

Especially free samples.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Vinny_93 62 points 5 months ago (7 children)

To me it's sending me e-mails I have not explicitly signed up for. I have had once or twice, when I had filled out a form to order something and without pressing submit, they had already registered my e-mail address and signed me up for all kinds of spam, starting with 'weren't you about to order something'.

[–] WeeSheep 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Especially when they sign me up for a bunch of different emails lists I need to unsubscribe from each one individually and eventually just spam everything from them. Then they sell my email.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Use a different email alias for each site. Duckduckgo with their duck.com, or Apple’s Hide My Email makes that easy; let your password manager keep track of the alias. If they start to spam me, I know not to use that site again, and I can delete the alias so that the spam goes into a black hole.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Aheeem excuse me buddy, where the hell do you think you're going? You left some ITEMS in your CART. You get back here right now and complete your purchase. Don't make me tell you twice!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] obinice 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

That's very illegal in the UK and EU, oh my.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Nobody 53 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Top 5 marketing tactics EVERYONE hates. You won’t BELIEVE number three.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

All of them. Make "banning advertising" an election platform, I'll vote for you. Ban billboards and other forms of commercial advertising everywhere. Advertising works, nobody denies that. If you see enough ads, on average, your mind will be changed. By allowing advertising to exist, we are sanctioning widespread mind control. It sounds crazy when you say it that way, but it's true. Advertising does not benefit the average person, it makes them buy stuff they have no native desire for. Advertising only benefits advertising agencies and their clients.

Let word-of-mouth and genuine desire for a good or service drive purchases of that good or service, not advertising, and you'll end up with a more efficient economy where our consumer choices better invest in our shared prosperity and future.

[–] joshthewaster 9 points 5 months ago

My vote too. It's crazy, nothing can be trusted when it relies on ads. Everyone likes to think it doesn't work on them or is worth the free content but they are wrong and it isn't.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Short of answering any questions about a product I ask, all of them.

If I want or need something, I will come looking. Anything beyond that is the market trying to solicit demand where none need exist.

So much waste could be eliminated if that just... Stopped.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but the shareholders....

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

They own us

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

Stealing my time for nothing in return. Watching an ad to get content is a transaction. The door to door guy, or the guy who interrupts my shopping with “I’m not selling anything just asking you some questions” is annoying and I’m never going to use their product. The ones that persist after being told “not interested” can jump off a cliff.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I found a real easy approach to any undesired solicitation - zero contact, no reaction. Works on telemarketers, panhandlers, salespeople etc.

I have no shame about ghosting you publicly when the only thing you’re after is my money. If I’m in the home generator store, sure thing bro talk to me about my home power needs. If I’m walking out the supermarket and you slide around a booth to “help me keep my home safe during unrest” nah fam you can fuck yourself.

Cold open sales is parallel to pick-up “artists” imo. You want the transactional outcome for yourself, and my consent is the only thing you’re concerned about taking care of.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This one needs to be illegal.

Apps that you need push notifications turned on for, but also serve ads.

For example, where I live the company that does riding sharing also does all kinds of deliveries. I get notifications about all kinds of restaurant deals.

The version of Amazon we have sends all kinds of unwanted messages from sellers if you add an item from their shop to your cart. It can be turned off, but it needs to be done one by one manually.

Even the mobile wallet apps that we use here send all kinds of ads.

Like, I need notifications about payments and that is it. Stop giving me full screen popup ads each time I open the app to make a payment. It just slows me down and frustrates me.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Some android phones have the ability to long press on a notification, click on settings, and alter what kinds of notifications you receive. I've had a few instances like you describe, but where I've been able to turn off "special deals" or whatever. I think implementation of this is done by the app developer though, because I'm sure I've had some apps that had no useful settings. Example screenshot of Gmail settings:

[–] Shard 9 points 5 months ago

This is good advice but also heavily dependent on the app developer. I've had the misfortune of using banking apps that only have a general notification option and they lump together important banking notifications with adverts. PITA scumbag bank

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (4 children)

There's this ad I keep seeing that I really despise. It's for teeth-whitening toothpaste. The actress is wearing a white coat then holds up a tissue to her teeth, lamenting that her sparkling white teeth are 'still yellow'

They cut away to teach you how toothpaste works, because surely you've never heard of this newfangled thing, and when they cut back she's no longer wearing her white coat and says how much whiter her teeth are.

It's transparently obvious that the wardrobe and tissue are just to give you something whiter to look at. But like... your teeth aren't supposed to be freakishly white. It's just something that Big Toothpaste wants you to feel bad about the way your body is. Also, using whitening toothpaste when you don't need it can damage your enamel and cause you long term problems.

[–] Shard 7 points 5 months ago

PSA whitening toothpastes are just normal toothpastes with added abrasives. So they temporary whiten your teeth because you've removed the outer most enamel which gives your teeth its hardness. At the mere cost of tooth sensitivity and future staining, the deeper dentine layer is much softer and porous which is easily damaged by acidic foods but also more easily stained due to the porosity. So congratulations your teeth are now more stained.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Today 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

After my mom passed everyone on my cell plan began getting phone calls and text messages to buy her house.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Fucking soulless vultures. I'm sorry for your loss.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DeaLikesTrains 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hiding finished/already existing game content behind DLC. Day one patches. Pay 2 Win in General. I just want to play good, finished games :c.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Right? Like…”which parts about being manipulated in order to take the money from you that you didn’t even want to have to rely on in a system that doesn’t make sense and actively hates you and uses you and then chews you up and spits you out do you not like?”

[–] Snapz 19 points 5 months ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] atrielienz 18 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The thing is, if I want something I'll go looking for it. At the point where I'm looking for it or something like it, I am happy to consume ads even tangentially related to that thing. If analytics marketing worked this way (showing me relevant ads when I'm shopping for something, even if it's for something I am not actively looking for), things would be better. But ads have worked their way into the cracks of everything and that's my problem with them.

I hate Billboards. I don't like circulars (waste of paper and generally too much trash), I hate junk mail and I think it's predatory. Popups (singing, flashing, scrolling when I scroll to stay on the page, tiny exit buttons, video, etc) are garbage.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I hate Billboards.

I don't just hate them, but I'd straight up make them illegal. At least next to roads. They are specifically meant to get the attention of drivers. How can that be allowed?

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Easier question: Which marketing tactics DO you like?

I like Steam's discovery queue, sometimes I find some pretty interesting stuff. It's entirely voluntary, and I can leave at any time, instead of holding my time ransom and demanding my attention with annoying cringe-inducing content like most marketing.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

Product placements in television shows where the ad becomes part of the fiction.

I officially stopped watching Eureka when there was an episode about Degree For Men. I similarly gave up on Bones when the characters started delivering Toyota ads to each other.

I'm okay with there being a stick of Degree For Men label out in Sheriff Carter's bathroom, or if the cast of Bones drive Toyotas. But when they stop to talk about long lasting anti-wetness or zero percent APR financing I'm fucking done.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

Asking me to give them profit so that they can donate is so obviously pretentious.

It's a way for them to have their cake and eat it too.

They use the desire of people to buy something they want and think they did a good thing at the same time, while the business will just take that money to donate to a non-profit (helping their public image) while writing off a part of it on their tax records (helping their bottom line).

They're not doing this from the bottom of their heart, it's just a cost of doing business for gaining some PR karma.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago

All of them...

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

I'm gonna go the other way. The only marketing I acknowledge is factual reporting of design features that make a product suitable for the intended task. Anything else is dishonest and manipulative.

Think of Chris Cooper's character from Interstate 50. Any marketing claim must be specific, measurable, verifiable, and accurate.

[–] notanaltaccount 15 points 5 months ago

I dislike ads that don't indicate the functional benefits of the product and instead nake it about the product being aspirational or about my worth.

The "You're worth getting some deliciousness" for a chocolate bar would be an example.

I'd rather know if the chocolate was ethical, the price, and sweetness level.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

On a related note, when shops let you "donate" stuff you buy at their store to a food bank.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

"Pay us to not let the homeless starve."

[–] TwoBeeSan 14 points 5 months ago

The job of sales is the overpromise and write checks that their ass won't have to personally cash. Anything they say is to get you to sign on the line.

Fuck em all

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Detaching basic features from an existing free product and making people pay a subscription for it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

Paid streaming services that have ads in the UI (youtubetv). Amazon firesticks having ads on the UI. I actually complained to YTTV and they sent me an email explaining why there are commercial on live TV, pissed me off even more.

[–] bhamlin 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Sending my work email a calendar invite as the first communication. Just because you want to sell it doesn't mean I want to buy it. Or even hear about it. If a calendar event is the first thing you send me, I will be the avatar of snark. My calendar is busy enough without you inserting yourself into it without my consent.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Honestly, sometimes when I can't sleep, watching eSports helps (especially Starcraft II). IDK why, but put on a super chill caster like Wardii and I'm out in 20 minutes.

Having some loud, disruptive ad punch through my ad blocker and try to tell me about Liberty Mutual when I've almost dozed off is close to the most rage inducing experience imaginable. With Youtube now working to inject adds directly into video streams, I'm actually anxious about the future of my best sleep aid.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

All of them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

Cold calling. And other proactive forms of sales when they seek you out and actively keep trying to convince you that you need their product.

Bonus points if the sales person is unable to actually explain the product and keeps talking about "we don't sell products we sell solutions"

[–] Feathercrown 7 points 5 months ago

Most of them

load more comments
view more: next ›