The Persuaders

The Persuaders begins by questioning the increase in the amount of advertising we typically encounter in our daily lives. How would you assess the amount of advertising you see? Too much? Too little? Just right? In your view, what difference does it make to know that people today see much more advertising in their daily lives than people 20 or 30 years ago?

I think that I see a very large amount of advertising on a daily basis. There is too much but I think that, because there is so much, we tend to not even notice it's presence in many cases. It makes sense that people today are exposed to much more advertising than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Today companies have a large number of more potent advertising resources at their disposal. 30 years ago they were limited to tv, radio, and traditional signs and newspapers. The Internet has given ad companies a near unlimited medium through which they can reach their potential customers. I think that the internet is the worst in terms of the sheer quantity of advertisements. Nearly every website online has some form of advertisement on the side. The Internet also enables companies to target their ads to a specific audience. For example, anytime I do a Google search I receive a list of "Sponsored Links" in addition to my actual search results. Those links are based off of my search and previous searches. I think, for the most part, there are some many ads online that they often are just ignored. I tune them out in a way.

Where are things headed in the future? What are some possible scenarios that could play out as far as the direction that future persuaders may take their marketing techniques?

I think that in the future we can expect to see even more targeted advertising like we see on sites like Facebook and Google but in other contexts as well.

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I think that as televisions become more connected to the internet, viewers can expect to see commercials targeted specifically towards them while they watch tv. The Persuaders discusses how television and marketing companies are worried about how to advertise because fewer and fewer viewers are actually watching the commercials, as DVRs allow them to fast forward through the commercials and people begin video streaming off of sites like Hulu or buying tv episodes from services such as Apple's iTunes Store. As more and more advanced information technology systems find their way into every aspect of our lives the opportunities for ad companies to target individual users will grow exponentially.