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Monday, June 16, 2014

Why Does Youtube Replay Skipped Ads?

There I am, listening to my playlist...Phenomenology...and skipping the same ads over and over.  It's great that I can skip ads...but it's rampantly ridiculous that Google doesn't remember my preferences.  

"Yes Google...for the millionth time...I'm still not even vaguely interested in an Xbox...or a PlayStation...or a..."    

Google amnesia makes me crazy...well...at least according to Einstein's definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results...  

"Maybe Google will remember my preferences this time?"  *Skip*  "Maybe Google will remember my preferences this time?"  *Skip*  "Maybe Google will remember my preferences this time?"  *Skip*

If the same salesman knocked on your door every 15 minutes...even if it wasn't difficult to shoo him away...you'd probably still call the cops.  Because that's some strange and suspicious behavior for sure.  

So who benefits from Google amnesia?  I sure don't...it's a waste of my time.  Does PlayStation benefit?  Nope, I'm skipping their ads.  Does Google benefit?  I really don't think that they get paid for an ad that gets skipped.  Playing an ad that I will skip costs them the opportunity to play an ad that I won't skip.  

So what happens if Google starts to remember people's ad preferences?  There will be no Armageddon.  There will be more awesome ads.  We will all add ads to our playlists.

Everybody's seen at least a few ads that they wouldn't kick out of their playlists.  I thought it would be fun to track down and share some of my favorites.  Uh, it turns out that there were more than I remembered.  Splendad gets quite a bit of credit for jogging my memory.  Having found nearly 20 ads, I decided to create a playlist consisting entirely of commercials which are both visually and audibly appealing....

Charmercials (Charming + Commercials)


Unfortunately, I can't use the notes feature to link you to the entire songs.  So I'll be a bit redundant and share the videos here as well...




Company: Pirelli
Artist: Aphex Twin
Song: The Garden Of Linmiri
Note: Referenced in my chanidget post.




Company: Perrier
Artist: Camille
Song: Waves





Company: Gucci
Director: Chris Cunningham
Artist: Donna Summer
Song: I Feel Love (couldn't find the same version)
Note: Cunningham also directed these two wonderful Aphex Twin videos... Come to Daddy and Windowlicker (NSFW).




Company: Korean Air
Artist: Lowb
Song: Compassion
Note: Lowb is from Lamb





Company: SKYY Vodka
Artist: The Polyamorous Affair
Song: White Hot Magic





Company: Volkswagen
Artist: Hooverphonic
Song: Renaissance Affair





Company: Sobe
Artist: Oberhofer
1st Song: o0Oo0Oo
2nd Song: Landline
Note: Unfortunately they cut the funny scene where he's dancing by himself in the middle of the office.  You can see it at the end of the shorter version.





Company: Bonds
Artist: Ladytron
Song: Playgirl





Company: Sony
Artist: José González
Song: Heartbeats





Company: Sony
Artist: Pinback
Song: Loro
Note: Same video...any excuse to love Rob Crow





Company: Sprint
Artist: Architecture in Helsinki
Song: Souvenirs





Company: Zune (Microsoft)
Artist: Maps
Song: Liquid Sugar





Company: MTV2
Artist: Belle & Sebastian
Song: We Are the Sleepyheads





Company: Heineken
Artist: Chris Knox
Song: It's Love
Note: Where's Rust?





Company: Toshiba
Artist: Crystal Castles
Song: Air War





Company: Adidas
Artist: Karen O
Song: Hello Tomorrow





Company: Virgin Media
Artist: Mazzy Star
Song: Into Dust





Company: PBS
Artist: Moby
Song: Extreme Ways





Company: Monster.com
Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Song: Dream On

Am I missing any?  Let me know if you think so.

Are you wondering what all of this has to do with pragmatarianism?  Does every entry have to be about pragmatarianism?  Yes?  Because it's your favorite subject?  Ok.

Is it possible for our preferences to matter for commercials but not for public goods?   As I explained in my recent post on unbundling cable...the creation of content is never costless.  Whether the content is commercials or aircraft carriers...disregarding the preferences of consumers guarantees that we end up with more content that does not match our preferences and less content that does match our preferences.

If we want more public goods that are closer to our preferences...then we have to be free to defund the public goods that are most distant from our preferences.  If we want music that is closer to our preferences...then we have to be free to defund the artists that are most distant from our preferences.  If we want a world that more closely matches our preferences...then we have to be free to defund the parts that are most distant from our preferences.

Right now I don't have to add Brittney Spears to my playlist.  Yet I have to put the war on drugs in my shopping cart.

What would happen to the variety and quality of music if we couldn't choose which songs we added to our playlists?  What if we all had to elect 500 impersonal shoppers to choose for us?  The variety and quality of music would plummet.  One day it will be a self-evident truth that consumer choice is the only thing that can ensure that we have an abundance of awesome options.  

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