I hear people are doing a surprise-pikachu about Discord's new ad push?
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/discord-heightens-ad-focus-by-introducing-video-ads-to-mobile-apps-in-june/
Truly surprising that a *checks notes* proprietary, centralized, VC-funded platform started enshittifying the moment it gained enough market share to make it very difficult for people to flow elsewhere. 
Nobody saw that coming! 
@rysiek I don't think ads work. People have been showing me car ads daily since I stopped driving in the 1980s and I haven't bought a car yet. That's a lot of advertising with absolutely zero effect. Just one data point.
I'm also not buying plush toilet rolls. They clog up my loo and it's a right pain to unclog it, so it's budget buys, despite all the adverts.
The point of ads (from large companies) is to create needs. Easiest way to do so is to trigger survival instict: humans are a social animal, so being separated from herd is a death sentence.
If ads don't work on you, it's due to you not being their target segment. They're then easy to ignore. That's why large part of marketing is targeting: that the right people (eg. victims) see the ad.
Ads work. If they didn't, they wouldn't do it. And the cost for society is high.
@iju @rysiek
I'm not convinced they do work, would need to see solid sales delivery, rigorously researched. I think they can make people aware of products. I'm certainly aware of cars, but I suspect it's diminishing returns beyond that.
Even in a willing segment, inattention to what people want defies any amount of shouting at them to buy. I prefer toilet paper that doesn't clog up my loo, so avoid the plushy stuff.
I was a marketing manager in an earlier life, amongst other of my career.
The fantasy ads are whale-sales, short term impulse buyers. The (far) bigger market is people who are looking for a product that addresses their needs at a reasonable price.
To get from A to B, I'm never going to need a Tesla (simplifying) but a few percent of people think they do, so you can overprice and underdeliver on that. For a short while.
We may be speaking past each other. I was talking of products on saturated markets such as cola-drinks or clothes. Also in general international companies are badly in touch with the needs of local populace, so they find it easier to change needs.
I've worked in marketing as well (briefly), but more importantly have two degrees that border the subject.
Btw, this is an excellent intro, should you find interesting and not having read something like it before.
@iju @rysiek Cool. I was going to add there's an irritation factor to advertising - people don't like being nagged and just blank out or it induces avoidance behaviour eg ad blockers, or muting channels until the ad has gone. The internet is far from the captive audience people fondly imagine it to be.
Again on a small datapoint, Netflix kept pushing Jeremy Clarkson at me. I don't care how much they overpaid for the series, it was so annoying I unsubscribed and have never been back.