I've noticed HN often has two opinions about advertising depending on the day of the week:
1) It's an unchecked, all-powerful evil, making people buy or believe in things they don't want or need by hoarding their data
or
2) It's a giant ineffective scam that stupid companies who aren't led by engineers waste VC money on
The two are diametrically opposed, yet, I've seen the same person argue #1 on Monday when it fits the narrative, and then on Tuesday start arguing #2--blissfully unaware of how both cannot be true at the same time.
Could it be, that both 1 and 2 are wrong, and that advertising spend is simply reduced during recessions in reaction to the reduction in spending by consumers? Why pay money to acquire customers when the customers aren't willing to spend money on new products?
1) It's an unchecked, all-powerful evil, making people buy or believe in things they don't want or need by hoarding their data
or
2) It's a giant ineffective scam that stupid companies who aren't led by engineers waste VC money on
The two are diametrically opposed, yet, I've seen the same person argue #1 on Monday when it fits the narrative, and then on Tuesday start arguing #2--blissfully unaware of how both cannot be true at the same time.
Could it be, that both 1 and 2 are wrong, and that advertising spend is simply reduced during recessions in reaction to the reduction in spending by consumers? Why pay money to acquire customers when the customers aren't willing to spend money on new products?