This seems like it’s not going to be a productive conversation if you’re going to accuse me of using a strawman argument.
All word of mouth advertising is advertising. You’re advertising that you like something to your friends. That it’s viewed as “not advertising” by so many is the reason it’s so valuable, and why so much effort is being expended to manufacture and subvert it, since it’s one of the last forms left people aren’t super conscious of. “Telling other people about the thing” is the oldest and most basic form of advertising, but it’s still advertising, and people have worked to exploit it since the earliest records we have. Hell, even Ea Nasir advertised via word-of-mouth.
Relevant XKCD:
The value of word of mouth advertising is the reason we have to deal with the hell that is astroturfing ad campaigns.
Not all word of mouth is advertising. While word mouth advertising is powerful, that argument is still just a straw man.
This seems like it’s not going to be a productive conversation if you’re going to accuse me of using a strawman argument.
All word of mouth advertising is advertising. You’re advertising that you like something to your friends. That it’s viewed as “not advertising” by so many is the reason it’s so valuable, and why so much effort is being expended to manufacture and subvert it, since it’s one of the last forms left people aren’t super conscious of. “Telling other people about the thing” is the oldest and most basic form of advertising, but it’s still advertising, and people have worked to exploit it since the earliest records we have. Hell, even Ea Nasir advertised via word-of-mouth.
It seems like its not going to go anywhere because you think of all human communication as an act of manipulation.
Not all advertising is manipulation. The convo is going nowhere because you are No True Scotsmanning the definition of “advertisement”.
If you’re dropping a name of a product or service and describe anything about it to appeal to others, you are definitionally advertising.
… Run that one by me again? What??