I’ve always felt weird about my contribution to ads. Half the projects I’ve worked on at Microsoft were ads and I’m currently waiting to hear back from hiring committee at Google about working on some different ads for them instead.
I guess the part I’m not sure about is, are the people who purchase something in response to an ad better off? The only purchase that stemmed from an unsolicited ad I saw was bugging my mom for some Heelys as a kid; but every time I’ve let an “almost ad” like a friend talking about something convince me to buy something it has always felt like it made my life 0% better and was a waste of money. I generally notice friends spending a lot of money on things that they grow bored of so quickly and get very little enjoyment out of. I wonder if ads are pushing behavior that makes people less happy in the end.
Edit: I have had a coworker suggest the most moral thing I could do was stay on the team and intentionally sandbag. I’m still not sure if she’s right.
I’ve always felt weird about my contribution to ads. Half the projects I’ve worked on at Microsoft were ads and I’m currently waiting to hear back from hiring committee at Google about working on some different ads for them instead.
I guess the part I’m not sure about is, are the people who purchase something in response to an ad better off? The only purchase that stemmed from an unsolicited ad I saw was bugging my mom for some Heelys as a kid; but every time I’ve let an “almost ad” like a friend talking about something convince me to buy something it has always felt like it made my life 0% better and was a waste of money. I generally notice friends spending a lot of money on things that they grow bored of so quickly and get very little enjoyment out of. I wonder if ads are pushing behavior that makes people less happy in the end.
Edit: I have had a coworker suggest the most moral thing I could do was stay on the team and intentionally sandbag. I’m still not sure if she’s right.