@esther I pun competitively and have read a lot about them. I think about it in the same way! I'm manipulating the ancient and adapted systems of sound/speech/sight/language so I can inject an idea that would not otherwise be there.

Sure with puns it's for delight more than manipulation but it is a rhetorical device like advertising uses all the same.

@esther yeah, it always felt like choosing products and services should follow the pull model (whenever one needs) instead of pushing ideas down on someone.

Some advertisers make use of that with paid or straight up fake reviews and recommendations. Also gross.

Is (was?) there a solution that works both for sellers and potential buyers?

@esther it’s a marketing campaign after all

@esther
"Weaponized psychology" is my euphemism for advertising/propaganda.

@esther

We need a new Nam-Shub of Enki

@esther "Product offensive". A really stupid, oblivious expression, but an illustrative one.

@esther I have this mantra that I use whenever I see an ad: "The more money they spent on marketing, the less they spent on product quality"

@esther I’ve always agreed with the phrase, “Advertising poops in your head.”

It is more sinister than that sometimes but mostly it’s just a big old waste of everybody’s time, money, memory, attention that could have been spent learning or remembering something artistic or meaningful.

@esther once one learns more about the history and methods of advertising in the 20th century, one realises it is closer to hijacking and controlling the brain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising#20th_century