cni-modernization: Re: Ads, free market, nets
Re: Ads, free market, nets
Gary Forbis (forbis@cac.washington.edu)
Fri, 12 Nov 1993 08:08:04 -0800 (PST)
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 08:08:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Gary Forbis <forbis@cac.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Ads, free market, nets
To: cni-modernization@cni.org
In-Reply-To: <9311111321.aa16513@pandora.sf.ca.us>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.87.9311120804.B10242-0100000@red1.cac.washington.edu>
I've been following this discussion without responding. I'm not sure
exactly where I stand on the issue.
I see a greater ill which subsumes the one being discussed.
In another's letter the old adage, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it," was
asserted. The presumption was "It ain't broken". I think the counter is,
"If it *is* broken, then fix it," and the way we choose to distribute
wealth is broken.
Advertising can serve many purposes. One is to increase sales.
Well, there is a social cost to increased sales. Do we, as a society,
want to pick up that cost? I think it depends. It depends upon whether
free agents have chosen a product based upon information, personal needs
and desires, and assessment of the social impact of choosing one product
over another or not-so-free agents have chosen a product based upon
psychological pressures placed by the producers of the product,
especially when those pressures have been placed there for the purpose of
increasing sales.
I'm certainly not in favor of advertising on the net if the reason to
allow that adverstising is to cost shift net usage. It doesn't make any
sense to put ourselves in bondage to people who would have to recover
that cost by preying upon our psyche and who would likely extract more
than mere cost.
On the other hand, I think it is ok to use the net to conduct commerce as
long as the cost of such use is fully recovered. Use could include
informing our citizenry about the avialability of goods and services and
the their costs--informed people are better able to make socially
conscious decisions.
--gary forbis@u.washington.edu
On Thu, 11 Nov 1993, Cliff Figallo wrote:
<some text deleted>
> So, do advertisers want to engage in a escalating technological war to
> get their ads in peoples faces or are they going to examine other
> strategies that would depend on people wanting to see their information
> or commercial? These days, jaded on screenfuls of ascii text like
> this one, some really good ascii art or some included useful and
> unique information could serve as a "premium" for seeking an ad file.
>
> Let's try and change the overall philosophy and approach of advertising
> so it isn't so much an insult to our intelligence.
>
> Cliff Figallo
> <fig@path.net>
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