Sometimes I feel like if I do so I’m basically serving as an ad, and I don’t really care for that, especially if later I find that the business was scummy in some ways (which is often the case, especially later as it changes leadership/ownership).
If you do, how do you deal with it?
This is mostly a symptom of being online too much and seeing enough ads to think critically about them.
People have talked about the tools they use for about as long as we’ve had both tools and language. I think its fine to just talk about stuff and not need to worry about your impact on capitalist society while doing it.
This is mostly a symptom of being online too much and seeing enough ads to think critically about them.
Would this apply even in the case of an avid ad-blocking person? At least that’s my situation, so what I’m seeing is less the ad-ridden web and more what remains, which is still a lot of discussion of commercial stuff.
I guess I’m thinking along the lines of the “What the hell is water?” story in a way.
I get what you mean, but my statement wasn’t really about how someone can escape the matrix by seeing enough advertising to realize that its poisioning society and wanting to escape that.
Its more that people would still talk about their commercial products even if there werent ads for it. Thats just a human experience thing.
Advertising muddies the water a whole bunch here because someone has taken that moment of human connection where you talk about a tool that fixed a problem you had, or some food you tried that was really good into something to make money.
Basically your choices are:
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Talk about the things with people and ignore the commercial implications.
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Be riddled with anxiety over a conversation accidentally making a few extra dollars for CocaCola or Amazon.
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Somehow totally dismantle the capitalist system and remove the profit incentives from human conversations involving things you can purchase.
TLDR: you can’t totally avoid capitalism so focus on your own happiness rather than worrying about who might be making money from the things youd be doing anyway.
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Ads are convincing people to buy something they hadn’t considered.
If I’m making a recommendation, it’s because I’m sharing it with people who are either asking for a solution, or have the same problem I solved with the product. And not because I own a bunch of their data and inferred what “solutions” I could sell them.
There’s a big difference that the thought hadn’t ever crossed my mind.
Not if I’ve vetted the product and feel like they offer a decent value, in one form or another.
I never feel conflicted when I drink a nice, refreshing Dr. Pepper©. 😉
Not in the very rare case where the positivity is warranted because the product is decent, appropriately priced, and not too shittified.
I get around that by not acting like an ad.
I only tell someone about a specific commercial product/service if they actually asked for my rec.
And I don’t try to persuade them to use it.
how do you deal with it?
By not caring what others think. It’s become way more efficient for me to pay for certain reliable items or services rather than spending my time to learn to and do such. If a service or product saves me time and frustration, ya I’m much happier to pay someone to do it or pay for a known fix. Sometimes that results in me spouting off about how much that was worth to me, and how much I saved (if not in money, at least in sanity).
Sharing your experiences and thoughts on a commercial product doesn’t make you a shill, or a walking ad. Rather sharing your experience with friends should be seen as a trustworthy review.
Talking about the things that are working well for you in your life is fairly natural. But the fact that you feel like you’re an ad suggests that maybe you’re doing it too often.
We cannot know everything about the businesses that we interact with, so I don’t think we need to feel guilty if we later learn that a business is shady. Actually, if you occasionally mention the businesses that you endorse, you might find that people will tell you about some of those shady business practices. And that can be stressful because it might sound like a personal attack, but it’s also an opportunity to take another look at your current situation and figure out what you want to do in the future.
But the fact that you feel like you’re an ad suggests that maybe you’re doing it too often.
It’s not that I feel like that, as I don’t talk much about these things, and I don’t because even the little I might sometimes feels that way. It’s more of a conflicted feeling than feeling outright like an ad, as in that it can come across as promotional even if it may simply be talking about a good experience.
Almost everything is commercial, one way or another. If I’m happy about something that I bought or subscribed to, I don’t mind sharing my excitement with others.
I avoid it almost all the time. Because:
- I avoid uncalled advice, so there goes 90% of the time when people would suggest a brand.
- I’d rather support local brands over country-wide or international brands. However most people whom I speak with are on the internet, and live far away.
- Most of the time talking about the product (e.g. “shavers”) works well enough, I don’t need to talk about the brand (e.g. “ACME shavers”).
- I’m one of those DIY muppets. Specially when it comes to kitchen stuff. I’m not talking about the brand of tomato sauce, I’m making it! (Or butter. Or pepper sauce. Or spice mix.)
I think some brands have earned a good reputation, and I don’t think you should feel bad for promoting them when asked if you genuinely believe they are aligned with a cause you support (fair wages, good customer service, high quality product, locally sourced, open and transparent operations could be a few examples). That reputation is theirs to squander from shitty management decisions in the future, that’s not on you to control.
I have felt the feeling you express in threads like this one. In that case I made sure to wait 12 hours before putting my answer, that way my brand namedrop wouldn’t be voted to the top as if it was a “Promoted” comment. Someone who is looking for that will find honest recommendations from me but I’m not trying to act like I’m being sponsored.
Your last sentence gets at part of what I was thinking in writing this question. I see where others are coming from when talking among friends or not awkwardly dropping in products/titles, but it’s that limbo space when either talking among acquaintances or online with strangers where it gets murkier to me.
I think some of this also comes from the posting culture you see if you browse microblogging platforms, even apart from influencer-types, which I think comes from the constraints of a lower character count to some degree.
Full agree. You’re not paid to influence but I also say you’re not paid to fret over it either whether it’s with strangers or acquaintances.
My advice for you overall is don’t sweat it if you casually mention a brand name, but if you’re unsure whether to put one in a comment think about it this way. Recommend a brand name if you think it would be helpful for the person you’re talking to, as in that case there’s no sense at hinting at a brand name or giving a riddle to someone who’s looking for a product they can trust will serve them well. If it’s just part of some anecdote where the brand isn’t relevant or helpful, then talk about it generically.
But if a product is so damn great, do you want a person whom you care about to use an alternative product and have a worse experience?
When I see people using LastPass, I feel obligated to inform them about BitWarden, because it’s free, open sourced and audited.
I feel less conflicted about talking up community-built things than business-built things, since the former can use the attention and typically lacks any sort of marketing or other means of promoting themselves. Businesses don’t need any more of either given they often literally have marketing divisions or can afford to hire marketing firms.
You should trust that ads are going to be dishonest in one way or another. If you, personally, discuss your opinions and experiences of certain good and services with other people, you know that you may at least be honest, if you want to. And in doing so, you’re likely helping people make better choices with their money.
I needed some physiotherapy last year, and the first clinic I went to tried to handle me like I was a cog in an industrial complex: get done with him fast, don’t listen to his feedback, wait I forgot to ask what did his doctor diagnose but whatever we’ve only got 25 minutes. The therapists at the next clinic (one of them had to take medical leave, so I was assigned to a different one two weeks in) properly took their time to find every contracture, listened to me, offered longer sessions and was cheaper. Shittalking the first clinic and recommending the second one is only positive for everyone. Except for the asshole who runs the first one.
Easy fix is to talk about your experiences rather than the product itself. If you can see yourself holding a can of non-descript product and smiling at a camera while saying the line, rewrite it. If you can imagine yourself telling your friend about it without them trying to escape, perfect.
No, just because we’re living in the decline of the empire/regime dejour, doesn’t mean we don’t still live our lives when possible.
As an example, If my country, the US, saned up tomorrow and started collecting guns, like actually enforcing it including the inevitable stand offs with the nutters climbing bell towers over it to get it fucking done, I would throw mine in the pile eagerly. Wont happen, but I don’t fetishize the firearm I own explicitly and exclusively to defend myself from the gun nuts.
I have to live next to the neoconfederate nutters with arsenals. I am still subject to the violence of their nuttery. When in (the fall of) Rome.
