The Brownstone Institute on the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

The most powerful companies in the world have united against free speech, and they’ve deployed your tax dollars to fund their mission. 

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee released a report on the little-known Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and its pernicious promotion of censorship.  GARM is a branch of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), a global association representing over 150 of the world’s biggest brands, including Adidas, British Petroleum, Nike, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Walmart, and Visa. 

The WFA represents 90% of global advertising spending, accounting for almost $1 trillion per year.  But instead of helping its clients reach the broadest market share possible, the WFA has appointed itself a supranational force for censorship.

~ Brownstown Institute, "Censorship and the Corruption of Advertising," July 18, 2024

Dan Niles on how big internet companies will not be able to avoid recession

If you look at '08-'09, advertising revenues went down 20%.  The internet, though, was only about 12% of total advertising dollars in '08-'09.  Now it's 66%, or two-thirds of the market.  So big ad-supported internet companies are not going to be able to avoid a recession.  They're going to see their businesses get hit pretty hard.

~ Dan Niles, CNBC interview, 3:00 mark, September 13, 2022

Gert Boyle on work ethic

Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.

~ Gertrude "Gert" Boyle, former president and chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear (1924-2019)

Roger McNamee criticizes Facebook's business model as "addictive"

I'm convinced that the business model is the problem.  It's the problem at Facebook.  It's the problem at Google.  They essentially have this advertising business model that depends on monopolizing the attention and manipulating the attention of the user, and in order to do that, the algorithms are tuned to focus on emotional things that trigger outrage, that trigger fear, or tickle people with rewards of some kind.  When you're doing that for long enough, people first develop a habit, then you develop an addiction.  And once they're in an addiction, they're vulnerable to manipulation by bad actors on the outside.  And until you change the business model, that's there.

~ Roger McNamee, "Former Zuckerberg Mentor McNamee Criticizes Facebook's Business Model," Bloomberg TV, February 5, 2017, 7:23 PM EST

Will Rogers on advertising

If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising then they wouldn't have to advertise them.

~ Will Rogers

Will Rogers on self promotion

Get someone else to blow your horn and the sound will carry twice as far.

~ Will Rogers

Will Rogers on advertising

Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need.

~ Will Rogers