I love this piece, you really put my thoughts into words. As someone how has worked in marketing for 6 years, I’m so glad to step into a new role in another field. Good marketing is dying. Everything is about doing it as fast as possible, manipulate as many as possible, preferably using AI, to sell products that no one really needs (or are any good).
I’m looking forward a shift, where marketing is a form of art again, and focus is on storytelling and inspiration – and of course to not be bombarded by ads all the fucking time. One of the reasons I love books, no ads haha
Thank you! It’s interesting and sad to hear what’s happening on the inside, I always think there are so many interesting and creative people who go into marketing, it’s a shame to see what it’s devolving into. But I’m glad you’re on to brighter things!
This is a great article! Quite literally sums up my experience now on any social media platform. I am honestly TikTok shops number 1 hater 😭 I wish I could remove it from my fyp.
They mentioned this essay on the 'Everything Is Content' podcast and I felt so cheeky knowing I was already subscribed + love ur essays. ;)
Very subjective, of course, but there was something so magical about advertising in the late 90s, early 2000s. It played a huge role in sparking my interest in art, design, and visual media (my parents weren’t taking us to museums, I was watching TV and skimming through magazines.)
There was so much seduction and mood and fantasy...it really played on desires we didn't know we had.
That's really gone now, I rarely ever pause to look at an ad.
Wow how cool I didn’t know they mentioned me, thanks for telling me!!
I’ve been hearing from people working in marketing that it really has changed for the worse on the inside. It’s crazy, I know so many really cool creative people who I went to art school with who went into advertising and marketing and I just think all that talent is being wasted for speed and slop!
I felt every word of this, great piece! I love the ending thought about how "if everything is an ad, nothing is an ad" - you are so right. Everything online just feels so...empty.
And I work in marketing so this is quite literally my life every single day and I am doubting my career path more and more every second, as I just don't care anymore. When I first got into marketing ~7 years ago, things were a lot different - lots of brand building. It's still marketing with the aim to sell products but it wasn't so focused on tracking direct sales. Now, everything you do has to be tied to a sales/conversions result, and if you don't have positive ROI for every little thing you do, then you're seen as useless. It is exhausting!
It’s interesting to hear that the industry itself has changed. I used to work in fashion and that industry has gone through a similar shift, away from being creative and design focused and just about sales and growth. It’s sad, I think culture suffers a lot as a result of everything being so much about profits
I could totally see that happening in fashion as well. I wouldn’t say I work for a fashion company but I do work for a small clothing brand, and it’s just so far removed from being about fashion or anything brand-focused at all - it’s like that is an afterthought. I miss the days when marketing was really thinking about branding and positioning!
I have found this especially with podcasts. These days it seems to be about five minutes of adverts before you even get to the beginning. Or films in the cinema where it used to be like 10 mins and you’re all of a sudden there for half and hour waiting. It is also so true that products are just getting worse while marketing budgets are bigger
I have never heard anyone say it as clearly as I have felt it. When will the bubble burst? As a small business owner too, I don’t resonate with the selling in this modern way, I hate it as a consumer so why would I try to do it the other way around…
Thank you! I feel like we have to be reaching some sort of tipping point with all the ads and ai, if we can’t trust anything we see or buy online then what’s the point? Hopefully people will seek out real life things as a result
I resonate with this so deeply. I own my own small business and I want so desperately to get off of social media but it’s the only thing keeping it going. I long for the days of community and people being interested in supporting artists. Networking just isn’t the same anymore.
That’s what’s so hard, the more the internet touches of our lives the harder it is to get off, and the more online we get the less community there is outside of it. Sometimes it feels like trap!
I have been thinking this for a while and I started clearing my Instagram of anyone who was selling me stuff, and then just ended up coming off it entirely because I was sick of seeing adverts all the time. I am a steward for a Little Free Library and recently saw that Penguin had paid to install some Penguin-branded little libraries, and it made me sad. Even this community-run, gesture of good will has been branded and becomes an ad for Penguin 🤨
I've been thinking about this a lot. We are constantly bombarded with ads and just things. Everyone is selling something, it gets tiring. Lovely written piece!
As a woman who has worked in advertising for nine years, your text perfectly captures the personal conflict I experience with the flood of advertising, both online and offline. I develop advertising campaigns for clients and consumers, constantly caught in this dilemma: I don't want to be intrusive because I personally find it appalling that advertising consumes every inch of space. Thank You for sharing your thoughts and amazing insights ✨
Wow! This was so beautifully said. (Found you on tiktok)
An idea I'm working on is that people should get paid to watch ads, directly from the advertiser. Instead of paying a platform, people should be paid for their attention. And they should pick the ads they see, and set the price they want to be paid. I think promotion is not a bad thing IF it's consensual.
I think if that kind of advertising experience existed, we'd pay attention to those ads and have positive association with the company. And advertisers wouldn't waste their budget where they aren't wanted. People would pick that experience over Instagram, for example.
I think could break/compete with the existing model. At least give an option for people who need to promote themselves but what to do it ethically.
I'm building this right now with my husband. We're launching soon, please do check it out. Would love your reaction. (Don't mean to advertise in your comments 😔 but I do think you'll find it interesting.)
I really like the overarching feeling of the writing. I feel as though each paragraph could have been a whole essay, and it sometimes felt lacking depth because of that. I really agree with your stance though! Great post <3
I love this piece, you really put my thoughts into words. As someone how has worked in marketing for 6 years, I’m so glad to step into a new role in another field. Good marketing is dying. Everything is about doing it as fast as possible, manipulate as many as possible, preferably using AI, to sell products that no one really needs (or are any good).
I’m looking forward a shift, where marketing is a form of art again, and focus is on storytelling and inspiration – and of course to not be bombarded by ads all the fucking time. One of the reasons I love books, no ads haha
Thank you! It’s interesting and sad to hear what’s happening on the inside, I always think there are so many interesting and creative people who go into marketing, it’s a shame to see what it’s devolving into. But I’m glad you’re on to brighter things!
This is a great article! Quite literally sums up my experience now on any social media platform. I am honestly TikTok shops number 1 hater 😭 I wish I could remove it from my fyp.
Thank you!! Tik tok shop is so dystopian, and the stuff is actual garbage it’s crazy
They mentioned this essay on the 'Everything Is Content' podcast and I felt so cheeky knowing I was already subscribed + love ur essays. ;)
Very subjective, of course, but there was something so magical about advertising in the late 90s, early 2000s. It played a huge role in sparking my interest in art, design, and visual media (my parents weren’t taking us to museums, I was watching TV and skimming through magazines.)
There was so much seduction and mood and fantasy...it really played on desires we didn't know we had.
That's really gone now, I rarely ever pause to look at an ad.
Wow how cool I didn’t know they mentioned me, thanks for telling me!!
I’ve been hearing from people working in marketing that it really has changed for the worse on the inside. It’s crazy, I know so many really cool creative people who I went to art school with who went into advertising and marketing and I just think all that talent is being wasted for speed and slop!
I felt every word of this, great piece! I love the ending thought about how "if everything is an ad, nothing is an ad" - you are so right. Everything online just feels so...empty.
And I work in marketing so this is quite literally my life every single day and I am doubting my career path more and more every second, as I just don't care anymore. When I first got into marketing ~7 years ago, things were a lot different - lots of brand building. It's still marketing with the aim to sell products but it wasn't so focused on tracking direct sales. Now, everything you do has to be tied to a sales/conversions result, and if you don't have positive ROI for every little thing you do, then you're seen as useless. It is exhausting!
Thank you!!
It’s interesting to hear that the industry itself has changed. I used to work in fashion and that industry has gone through a similar shift, away from being creative and design focused and just about sales and growth. It’s sad, I think culture suffers a lot as a result of everything being so much about profits
I could totally see that happening in fashion as well. I wouldn’t say I work for a fashion company but I do work for a small clothing brand, and it’s just so far removed from being about fashion or anything brand-focused at all - it’s like that is an afterthought. I miss the days when marketing was really thinking about branding and positioning!
I have found this especially with podcasts. These days it seems to be about five minutes of adverts before you even get to the beginning. Or films in the cinema where it used to be like 10 mins and you’re all of a sudden there for half and hour waiting. It is also so true that products are just getting worse while marketing budgets are bigger
I agree! I listen to a lot of podcasts and sometimes the ads are just too much my brain just tunes it out, thank god Apple has the 30second skip
You nailed it! Excellent piece!
Online Everything is an ad, and Everyone is the product.
Thank you!!
I have never heard anyone say it as clearly as I have felt it. When will the bubble burst? As a small business owner too, I don’t resonate with the selling in this modern way, I hate it as a consumer so why would I try to do it the other way around…
Thank you! I feel like we have to be reaching some sort of tipping point with all the ads and ai, if we can’t trust anything we see or buy online then what’s the point? Hopefully people will seek out real life things as a result
I resonate with this so deeply. I own my own small business and I want so desperately to get off of social media but it’s the only thing keeping it going. I long for the days of community and people being interested in supporting artists. Networking just isn’t the same anymore.
That’s what’s so hard, the more the internet touches of our lives the harder it is to get off, and the more online we get the less community there is outside of it. Sometimes it feels like trap!
“The internet is like the Wild West for marketing. A new frontier of endless space for sale.” Chilling!
I have been thinking this for a while and I started clearing my Instagram of anyone who was selling me stuff, and then just ended up coming off it entirely because I was sick of seeing adverts all the time. I am a steward for a Little Free Library and recently saw that Penguin had paid to install some Penguin-branded little libraries, and it made me sad. Even this community-run, gesture of good will has been branded and becomes an ad for Penguin 🤨
I've been thinking about this a lot. We are constantly bombarded with ads and just things. Everyone is selling something, it gets tiring. Lovely written piece!
As a woman who has worked in advertising for nine years, your text perfectly captures the personal conflict I experience with the flood of advertising, both online and offline. I develop advertising campaigns for clients and consumers, constantly caught in this dilemma: I don't want to be intrusive because I personally find it appalling that advertising consumes every inch of space. Thank You for sharing your thoughts and amazing insights ✨
Wow! This was so beautifully said. (Found you on tiktok)
An idea I'm working on is that people should get paid to watch ads, directly from the advertiser. Instead of paying a platform, people should be paid for their attention. And they should pick the ads they see, and set the price they want to be paid. I think promotion is not a bad thing IF it's consensual.
I think if that kind of advertising experience existed, we'd pay attention to those ads and have positive association with the company. And advertisers wouldn't waste their budget where they aren't wanted. People would pick that experience over Instagram, for example.
I think could break/compete with the existing model. At least give an option for people who need to promote themselves but what to do it ethically.
I'm building this right now with my husband. We're launching soon, please do check it out. Would love your reaction. (Don't mean to advertise in your comments 😔 but I do think you'll find it interesting.)
https://joinnextblock.com/billboard
I really like the overarching feeling of the writing. I feel as though each paragraph could have been a whole essay, and it sometimes felt lacking depth because of that. I really agree with your stance though! Great post <3