Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Marketing Immunity?

First, Choire Sicha from TheAwl.com on the whole FTC endorsement thing:

Stealth marketing, direct advertisement and product placement work only on the clueless, and our immersive, hippo-like wallowing in the marketplace serves only to make us resistant to these viral contagions. Because the more we are sold to — and, believe it, we are being pitched every minute — the more immune we are to it all.

To which Rob Walker “responds” in his linkpile: “That’s exactly what the marketing industry experts always say. Probably because it’s what they want you to believe it. And why not? It’s certainly easier than thinking.” I am with Rob on this one. If it were true that we become immune to these sort of messages than us in the marketing industry would never buy anything, right? I mean our job is to sit around all day and expose ourselves to advertising by choice. We purposely notice advertising and we still give into it’s pull. I know we all say “people are getting more savvy,” but I’m becoming increasingly unsure as to what, if anything, that actually means.

October 9, 2009