Got this notification when I opened Chrome when coming back to my desk after lunch.
“We changed our privacy settings to allow us to snoop on what you’re looking at and shove you ads accordingly. Feel free to opt out, but we’ll probably opt you back in when you aren’t paying attention.”
No I understand why websites show ads. I don’t understand why whenever I disable personal ads, I get a message saying “Are you really sure? If you disable this you won’t see your favourite ads anymore and only see ads for things you probably don’t want to buy. That’d be awful wouldn’t it?” and expect me to change my mind because that’s definitely not why I wanted to disable it in the first place.
They act as if people like to see ads because then they can buy stuff they think they want/need. And I’m getting afraid that’s actually true for a lot of people too.
I dunno how other people operate but I never once bought something off an ad.
me neither I think? but it probably still subconsciously affects me
Does it? Can you even remember a product that you bought after looking at its ad?
Games probably. If I’m browsing the store looking for new games, any games I’ve seen in ads will probably pique my interest more because I recognise them.
Same with food, movies, so many other things.
Let me take a look at what I buy. No, everything has been reviewed, thought upon (cos I ain’t rich) and then maybe bought.
Frightening, isn’t it?
They frame it that way to reenforce the notion that ads are an inevitable thing.