My parents were frugal; we acquired most possessions second hand, and we learned to view all advertisements with suspicion. Seeing an ad on television practically guaranteed that we wouldn't be wasting our money on whatever it depicted.

Coming from a relatively hardened mindset, it is startling to understand how impressionable people must be for modern advertising to be worth the cost.

> So someone selling hamburgers might be savvy enough to avoid vegetarians, but after that how would they possibly narrow it down?

People who bought BBQs or anything else related to hamburger-adjacent foods or equipment.

People who live or travel through a 30 minute radius of somewhere that they're sold.

People who are able to view the ad between the hours of 11am and 7pm.

People who have engaged with burger-related activity on social media (TikTok, Reddit, YouTube)

People with a higher-than-average association with other burger fans.

All of this information is available for a price.

> So someone selling (let's say) hamburgers might be savvy enough to avoid vegetarians, but after that how would they possibly narrow it down? Not everyone wants to try out a new burger place, or even cares about advertising when it comes to restaurant suggestions.

One of the examples in the posts describes ads for products that aren't even sold in his country. I feel like limiting your ads to people that are or live in a country you sell your burgers in would be a good start.

That's true for the advertising companies, but Google or whatever advertiser have a big stake in showing you the ad from the millions they serve that you're most likely to click/buy/complete. So there's no fault on McDonald's part, but if you're a vegetarian, arguably Google is doing McDonalds a disservice as their advertiser by showing you the ad (and won't be doing the user any useful service either).

That said, these algorithms are simple presumably because they work "well enough". Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, there isn't really a lot of meaningful competition in the ad space driving superior targeting. It's more about having the killer network, the list of effective channels (search, youtube, instagram whatever) that is the big players advantage rather than their targeting skills.

We are doing this all wrong. I don't need to be "targeted". There's things I want to buy. Get to know me. Learn what I need. Then, do a JOIN in your database and show me the best options for me.

That's what this is all about. Where is my tech-powered shopping helper and advocate?

> ie, they're trying to coerce you into wanting their products

Im not sure if you mean “coerce” literally but if so this is overkill. Maybe “persuade” or to be more critical, “manipulate”?

Exactly, targeted ads aren't there to find the things you want, they're there to convince you to buy something you didn't want.

Targeting was super easy back in the days, when it was done based on where the ad appeared. Putting video game ads into a video game magazine and not diaper ads was kind of a no-brainer, but on the net I had to suffer through diaper ads on a video game site.

Not sure why we got to this point. If there had only been video game ads on my video game site I wouldn't have had to resort to adblocking back in - checks calendar - 2007.

People who know you very well (friends, family, spouse) often buy you bad gifts you need to pretend to be happy to receive.

On the flip side I only give cash and they all complain its not very thoughtful, no matter how nice the Hallmark money card.

Not everyone feels like you do.

I have bought a number of $50-$100 things that are advertised to me on Instagram. I think I bought a $1,000 piece of furniture once.

Instagram ads are perfectly targeted to me. I am sometimes amazed at how often they show me good products that I legitimately want to buy - often niche, unique products from companies I didn't know existed. Obviously they are combining information from other sites I visit, because the accounts I follow on Instagram have nothing to do with any products.

Targeted ads in this setting are quite useful and pleasant for me! I wish Meta all the best in making them even better. I'm sure they are also super useful for the small businesses making the products I buy, because they can build awareness much more cost-effectively than other mechanisms.

Yes, I agree that when I visit my local news sites and see "targeted" ads for sports gambling, "800 singles in your area", or other nonsense I'm not interested in, it's pretty unpleasant. But those are just shitty ads.

Whatever Meta is doing on Instagram is next level advertising.

It's almost like rather than identify who I am, they identified the social niche stereotype I identify with, and then pull ads from that reservoir.

So while Google is trying to get me to buy discrete transistors and push cart tires (work related stuff), Meta is trying to get me to buy bespoke Icelandic wool socks, artisan gummy edibles, and hand made ceramic table ware.

Convincing a person who doesn’t want a hamburger to buy one is basically mind control and it doesn’t work.

Convincing someone who does want a burger to buy one at Shake Shack does work.

A vegetarian can still buy French fries from McDonalds. An ads are not necessarily about you but about the people in your life too. Think parents getting served gaming ads. They might not want the consoles but their kids will surely appreciate a PS6 for Christmas. Point is, a sale was made. Who ends up using the product isn't that important for the ad imo.

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