>>I find it hard to take an article seriously when it includes quotes like this in a non-critical context. Advertisement is about bullshit, not about "relationships with customers".
The problem is that advertisers think of their job as "relationships with customers." It's the lie they willingly swallow in order to be able to continue looking at themselves in the mirror. I mean, let's face it, no advertiser thinks, "sweet, I suckered ten thousand people to click my ad!" Rather, they think, "I built relationships with ten thousand customers today!"
I think that is a rather cynical view of advertisers. The type of advertisers that think of their jobs as "relationships with customers." are not the ones currently advertising online (and by online, I mean anywhere other than Google Search).
They type of advertisers that would buy ad-space on a site like Reddit today are definitely thinking "sweet, I suckered ten thousand people to click my ad!" even if not in that language, but they are the ones pouring over CTRs and impressions.
The advertisers who actually care about "relationships with customers" are life style brands like, Nike, Coke, Apple, Budweiser, Louis Vuitton, and others, who don't actually care if you click through (what does a click mean to Budweiser? Its not like the market of people who want a bud light via. online is particularly large). They are more concerned with the "relationships with customers" and take a great deal of care on how the product received and how the message is delivered.
The goal of these advertisers is to deliver a message, with the confidence that their message won't be warped by content around it. You just can't get that with Reddit. Therefore you are left with these other "unsavory" type of advertisers whose only goal is to convert and will do that until they can wring out every cent out of Reddit's user base.
I think that is a rather cynical view of advertisers.
Their behavior would be unacceptable in any social relationship. They exist in a space were we largely have to put up with them just because money.
I don't see how you can't not take a cynical view of the people who's primary goal is to manipulate you towards their own ends, just because those ends might once in a while be mutually beneficial.
Yes, when testing at ad companies, at least devs typically have to remember to turn off (multiple?) ad-blockers and enable flash. Some don't even tell their families they're in ads; rather say, "I'm in IT" hoping it's a boring enough answer that no one asks deeper. They think in abstract numbers like requests/sec, so they can go weeks without thinking about the actual results. (http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/)
(Though I think it's rare to be explicitly aware of ads as corporate propaganda. Some are.)
> The goal of these advertisers is to deliver a message, with the confidence that their message won't be warped by content around it. You just can't get that with Reddit.
The problem is that advertisers think of their job as "relationships with customers." It's the lie they willingly swallow in order to be able to continue looking at themselves in the mirror. I mean, let's face it, no advertiser thinks, "sweet, I suckered ten thousand people to click my ad!" Rather, they think, "I built relationships with ten thousand customers today!"