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[Kamamura]

After reading this article:

http://blogs.itbusiness.ca/2012/06/whats-really-not-working-facebook-or-advertising-in-general/

I have realized that when browsing the web, my brain has already developed something of an ad-block - low level suppression of visual information interpretation. I see bright colors flashing, I realize it's an ad, and the thread in my brain that was supposed to evaluate the picture just shuts down, freeing resources for other tasks.

I suppose (and various researches seem to support this) that people are more and more resistant to multimedia advertising, because they serve not the customer, but the producer, so we learned to ignore them like heat, flies, and other unpleasant stimuli.

Now I understand this might be a problem for manufactures and retail companies - a portion of revenue invested customarily in ads reap lesser and lesser returns.

This, in my opinion, calls to new, innovative and frankly drastic forms of advertisement - and this thread is the place to discuss them.

For example, imagine a robot that would slap random pedestrians on the street - after a slap to the face, you are in a state of shock with elevated perception, and here is a short window of opportunity to fire the advertisement to your momentarily unprotected cognitive system. I believe (but focus groups will have to prove it), that this method would be significantly more successful than traditional advertisement. People will naturally grow resistance to this as well, so escalation is necessary - after a slap, fist blow, or a kick, then blunt object whack, then blade slash, or projectile weapon discharge.

Naturally, the legislature will have to be adapted to legalize this new form of interaction - some backward law systems could confuse this advanced form of advertising with assault, or even murder attempt. Given the amount of influence various corporations already have on legislative governmental bodies in practically all western countries, I presume this will not be much of a problem.

So, what do you think? I think it's time the Invisible Hand of the Market starts wearing boxing gloves, and if necessary, other weapons. Business above all!

[kaijyuu]

As long as robots are punching you, why not just force you into their store and make you buy stuff at gunpoint?

[Kamamura]

As long as robots are punching you, why not just force you into their store and make you buy stuff at gunpoint?

There is a thin, and very red line here, and we should be careful not to cross it, because on the other side lies... COMMUNISM!

[Askot Bokbondeler]

the terrible thing is, many entities that provide decent services for free sustain themselves by selling addspace...

[RedKing]

Relevant comic is relevant.

[darkrider2]

a portion of revenue invested customarily in ads reap lesser and lesser returns

Not just a portion, large amounts of money are poured into advertising. A LOT. Less so for internet ads, more so for television. And seeing as a new generation of people who have lived with the internet and television their entire lives are growing up, I imagine that advertising towards these people will be rather ineffective.

Although I imagine the main repercussion of this would be that advertisements would become cheaper to purchase as they become less effective. But as long as profits increase more than the cost of the advertising, we'll never see them go away, never.

[nenjin]

I wish people would wake up to the reality of the Like button. I think it's pretty goddamn hard to miss when FB integration is now hard-coded into mobile phones and virtually any web page with a FB presence. There is now a business model built entirely off of likes and every click of the button just reinforces it further. It's barely even about the product or thing being liked anymore. It just translates straight to advertising dollars.

It's the newest metric of consumer attention and it's totally within our power to control. Just. Don't. Click. The Goddamn. Button.

[miauw62]

I dont even have a FB account.

[kaijyuu]

What they said.

[Gantolandon]

Punching robots are a bad solution, as they cost too much. It's better to hire some illegal immigrants to assault people while screaming advertisement. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. In my country, MTV hired people to spray their logo on pavements. It's, of course, illegal, so they denied everything and claimed it's the work of independent street artists.

But if you don't feel like breaking law today, there are other options:

1. Flood. If they spot your advertisement even for a microsecond, you win. You can print a lot of leaflets - at least street cleaners have to pick them up. Or make them big. Or put them in the places which no one can afford to ignore - for example, on cars.
2. Annoy. It's OK to be obnoxious if they notice. Feel free to scream, use flashy colors, annoying sounds or voices. Bonus points if you repeat the same thing several times to ensure no one remains disinterested. They may be resentful right now, but they will be grateful that you didn't let them pass up your amazing offer.
3. Avoid mediocrity. It's not OK if the actors in the commercial are only excited. They should be enthrilled by the prospect of buying bananas 10c cheaper than anywhere else. People should hear in their voices that it's only thing that matters in their life: to buy bananas in your shops. Make it feel authentic somehow.
4. Use disguise. Buy out reviews (or just refuse to deal with those who reviewed your product unfavorably). You can also hire people to stalk forums and post thinly-veiled advertisements disguised as normal users. It's not suspicious at all if all posts of a specific user encourages others to buy something.
5. Whine. Ensure that people know how immoral is blocking ads. Claim that people visiting portals and sites should feel obliged to watch the advertisement there, otherwise they are thieves who access their content without paying for it. Hey, RIAA does it, so it can theoretically work!

[da_nang]

I dont even have a FB account.

I've blocked off FB's IP address.

[Gantolandon]

I dont even have a FB account.

I've blocked off FB's IP address.

I pulled "F" and "B" from my keyboard.

[Sergius]

I dont even have a FB account.

I've blocked off FB's IP address.

I pulled "F" and "B" from my keyboard.

Whenever I see a face or a book nearby, I burn it.

[Trapezohedron]

I dont even have a FB account.

I've blocked off FB's IP address.

I pulled "F" and "B" from my keyboard.

Whenever I see a face or a book nearby, I burn it.

So I guess you burn tranquil library hoppers' faces of when they're silently reading in the library? Nice.

[Gantolandon]

I dont even have a FB account.

I've blocked off FB's IP address.

I pulled "F" and "B" from my keyboard.

Whenever I see a face or a book nearby, I burn it.

So I guess you burn tranquil library hoppers' faces of when they're silently reading in the library? Nice.

I think burning the entire library down makes more sense. It gets rid of many faces and books in one moment.