I got my first comment spam today. I deleted it. It was well crafted comment spam, because it took a couple of minutes for me to realize what it was. The comment had nothing to do with the post though - just a couple of keywords in the post. That’s what made me sure it was comment spam. I’m surprised they stopped at one, but I suppose posting hundreds is the surest way to get spotted as comment spam.

Advertising is crappy. I think of advertising as the root of a lot of society’s problems. “Branding” is the worst form of advertising. It’s a negative drain on the average welfare of people. Coke and Pepsi have realized it - they stopped spending quite so much on useless ads a while back. The only people that it negatively affected were the advertising sales forces, and those ad-supported industries that they work(ed) for. Maybe some TV shows got cancelled, maybe some magazines cut back on a few “writers.” Ultimately though, people weren’t any less entertained by the vacuum that this created.

Advertising, in it’s purest form, should be information. It’s information that you’re not actively seeking, but that you may be interested in anyway. Someone builds a better mousetrap, and advertises it, so that people who would be interested in a better mousetrap can beat a path to his door.

The reality is that advertising has become more inline with snake-oil sales. Instead of building a better mousetrap, they keep building the same old one, and tell people that it’s the best one available. People will beat a path to their door, and the only effort involved is advertising, which would have to be done for a product that had merit anyway.

Why has advertising gone this way? It’s pretty simple - the Internet made it. People are so connected now, that we don’t have to take Wink Martendale’s word for it, we can find out what real people actually think of the new Subuzki-Motors jet propelled nosehair trimmer. People who actually own one, and either like it or don’t. Research is made so simple by the fact that there is so much information available at your fingertips. You don’t have to go to five different car lots to find out what options are available on five different car models. You can do it from the comfort of your own home.

So, if this is information that <*ahem*> trusted <*ahem*> advertisers were providing before, why do people offer it up for free? It’s fairly simple actually - people genuinely want to help each other out. I’ve given people recommendations on products before when they’ve asked. I’ve warned people away from other products that I’d had bad experiences with. I did it all for free. I’m sure each and every one of you has done the same. The difference is that now I can help out people all over the world, with the same effort. I can put my opinions down here in black and white (or blue and lighter blue) and they’ll be here as long as my web server is running.

If I’m looking for a new nosehair trimmer, a quick google search could tell me that Subuzki-Motors’ jet propelled trimmer is bad news, because 95% of people who tried it had to have their noses surgically reattached. I don’t have to wait to see an ad for the competition, since people will have recommended other models that don’t cut off the noses with the hairs. I can investigate them in the same way.

Where was I going with this? I don’t remember. Funny what comment spam can lead a guy to talking about. I hadn’t planned this rant, which is why it’s probably incoherent (like most of my posts.)

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I need to draw you a diagram?” - Homer