The advertising model is arguably the root of all evil, and I intend this to be both a radical statement but also a statement with a very solid basis in history. I’ll show you exactly why I make such a bold statement, and I’m going to surprise you by sharing the origin of the advertising model used today by big tech companies. Few investigators or business development consultants, if any, have ever traced the advertising model to its beginning. I will, and you will be shocked, if not amazed. And let me say something really bold.
First, it is critical that you know that the foundational business model of some of the most profitable companies in the history of the world are built on the advertising model. What is the advertising model? In its simplest form, it is a business model that makes its money primarily from selling advertising to merchants (their customers) because of the captive consumer audience (the product) those companies have acquired. That’s the main source of income for many big Internet companies. The advertising model has made more billionaires than any other business in the 21st century. What is astonishing is that these billions were made from stolen data from consumers who never knew they were the product until recently.
Their database of personally identifiable information of millions of consumers is their gold mine. They will never give up their gold mine so long as they are an advertising model, and if they were not an advertising model, they would cease to exist. Therefore, they will not stop using and advancing technologies to capture all your personal data.
It is only recently that we have discovered the bold unprecedented theft of our personal data, which the Internet advertising model is built upon. They have been collecting all your Internet activities, your purchasing habits, your friends and their interests, your passions, your location 24/7, your education, your profession, your social media posts, all your thumbs up and thumbs down on social media, all your comments, your app purchases and app activities, and an unbelievably accurate psychological profile predicting your future behavior and your voting preferences. All of this was built with AI (artificial intelligence) of millions of bits of data about you and your life and has been sold over and over again. This defines today’s advertising model, and you can instantly understand why I call it evil.
Merchants have been willing to pay for the promise of the advertising model that their products and services would be exposed to a mass targeted audience of consumers, and that has been refined umpteen times using advanced technologies and Internet tools. The truth is, merchants had no idea that their money was being used to steal your data and manipulate your behavior, at least in the beginning. Later many of them figured this out, but the greed for the almighty dollar ruled their decisions.
The advertising model of today is built upon the theft of personal information, the selling of that information to third parties, and the use of that data to manipulate and control consumers, including you.
Second, it is critical that you know that the advertising model was built upon deception and manipulation with the primary goal of making a lot of money based on extraordinary greed. Few Americans would have agreed to the “Terms of Service”, which they never read, nor to the AI profile that was being developed on every consumer.
Third, the advertising model uses selective search results and selective promotions to consumers based on their AI profiles to manipulate their desires, their fears, their passions, and even their lusts. They created the most powerful consumer manipulation technology the world has ever seen, and just like satan works best when you don’t believe he even exists, these companies did all of this without you even knowing or believing that they were manipulating your thinking. You had no idea until it was too late.
Fourth, the advertising model spawned a technology that is evil beyond most people’s imagination. It spawned a technology that can manipulate your thoughts and cause you to vote for particular parties or candidates. This technology has caused millions of people to believe lies as though they were absolute facts. There are many documentaries proving all of this if you care to watch them and get educated. This is the key to controlling an entire nation, and therefore the future of America and the destiny of a globe.
Fifth, the advertising model spawned another separate line of technological R&D and some of the most advanced AI the world has ever seen, although the public doesn’t get to see any of this, let alone be aware of it. That separate line of AI includes the most advanced spying tools the CIA and our 14 national intelligence agencies have ever possessed. These tools were authorized, although still illegal, by the Patriot Act immediately after 911, and illegally implemented in a top secret U.S. intelligence program code named the “Hammer.” While the justification was that the program would protect us from terrorists, it was the U.S. government that became the terrorist to American citizens. You may have heard about how they have recorded everyone’s cell phone conversations and compiled a massive database of our phone conversations, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. You know by now about facial recognition cameras installed all over our cities, and location services on your smartphone that tracks your location within a few inches.
The advertising model is driven with the powerful greed for money. Now you can see why the advertising model is arguably the root of all evil. “For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.” Does that sound familiar?
Is there such a thing as good and honest advertising? Absolutely, but they don’t dominate and control Internet advertising today. Most merchants are good, honest, and hard working entrepreneurs, but they are forced to decide whether to advertise on the Internet, and that can create serious moral dilemmas in the current environment.
The True Origin of The Advertising Model
You’ve been waiting for my explanation of the origin of the advertising model. Here it is. Let’s go back to the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. It is in this story that the advertising model first rears its ugly head.
Now the serpent was more crafty [“crafty” means manipulative] than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” [Notice the attempt to manipulate the woman’s thinking with a false statement.] And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” [Eve knew exactly what God’s instructions had been.] But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. [A bold-faced lie because spiritual death is the result of sin, but satan leads the woman on because she will not die immediately. But the result of the sin will kill Eve and Adam physically eventually, because they were not originally meant to die, but even more significant about Lucifer’s lie is that the sin he talks Eve and Adam into committing will be the spiritual death of the entire human race. This is the biggest lie in all of eternal history with the most devastating consequences. It is the reason Christ came and willingly died on the cross as our sacrificial lamb.] For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Absolute lies by Lucifer in order to persuade the woman to buy what he is selling.] So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], and that it was a delight to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [pride of life], she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate [the sin spread quickly–to the other half of the human population]. Genesis 3:1-6 (ESV)
This was the first and the most devastating sales pitch in the history of the world, and this was the beginning of the deceptive advertising model as we know it today on the Internet.
Notice something else that I find profound. The three appeals that Lucifer made to the woman include the three all-encompassing sins in the world identified in another verse:
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 1 John 2:16 (ESV)
The advertising model from the very first time it was revealed was built on deception, lies, and manipulation. Does that not sound familiar? That is the foundation of the advertising model, and it is still the model today.
Perhaps now you know why we must get away from the advertising model. Run from it as fast as you can if you are a consumer, and if you are a merchant, don’t spend another dollar on advertising that is built upon deception, lies, and manipulation. The advertising model is evil.