Somebody... wants to sell me something!
When I was a child, I remember some advertising jingles that stuck in my memory. They were original, catchy, but most importantly, they were fun. I might sound like a grumpy old man here, but I’ll say it: back in my day, advertising was actually cool.
I’m fascinated by the world of marketing—what can be achieved through it, the bold campaigns, the paradigm shifts, the impressive display of creativity that sparks a burning desire in consumers to buy a product or service. But... that kind of advertising represents only a tiny fraction of what we come across every day.
Advertising has gone from being something appealing to a battlefield that desperately demands our attention—and it does so in the least efficient and least enjoyable way possible. Everyone wants you to see their new product at all costs, flooding websites, social media, bus sides, magazine back covers—any tiny unused space can be turned into an ad space. Imagination is the limit. Or is it?
In the end, marketing strategies have become inefficient, resembling more a trawling net than an actual promotional method. Just look at social networks like Instagram, which has something called an "ad-break"—five seconds where you literally can’t scroll past until you watch the ad, forcing you to engage with it before you can continue using the app.
Personally, I find it frustrating to waste time watching ads that, despite being hyper-segmented, don’t interest or attract me at all. At the end of the day, I choose to pay for services like YouTube Premium to avoid them, and I use VPN-based ad blockers like AdGuard. And... it’s sad.