Subtle Advertising

When we watched the documentaries last week in class, all of us cringed when the advertising agency classified themselves as "coolhunters". But what about when the advertising isn't as blatant?

It's really obvious when someone famous is peddling the newest edible Tide Pod or posting about how they enjoyed their meal at McDonald's. It's harder to determine if the random Reddit User who is raving about how they swear by a specific cheap Chinese clone of Airpods is legit.

On one hand, maybe he really did buy the headphones and wanted to share his experience. Or, he could be paid by the manufacturers to peddle them. You could check his posting history, but when companies are paying hundreds of dollars for reputable Reddit accounts, even that can't be trusted.

There are even guides available to companies who want to "market" through online forums. One of the first steps is to "not post marketing messages right away" in order to avoid the automated moderating on some online forums. Other steps also include "don't push it", (only bring up the product when its relevant) and "do contribute" to become a "valued contributor" to the site.


Companies shouldn't advertise this way; it's frankly despicable to deceive consumers in this way. Unfortunately, even if they do get found out and blacklisted, they will simply go resurface under a different name.

The next time you see someone who might be trying to push a product too hard, take it with a grain of salt.



https://medium.com/@Rob79/what-i-learned-selling-my-reddit-accounts-c5e9f6348005
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223900