but more to developing a critical theory of mass culture... I am curious if there is some effect of using sex appeal to literally sell everything for the last several decades dovetailing with the constant hijacking done by the attention economy. our brains are constantly trying to filter out unhelpful sensations while billions of dollars are spent trying to insert those sensations to the front of the cognitive experience, and sex appeal is the #1 vehicle for it.

when it comes to media, the sudden appearance of some tittilating visuals tends to fill me with annoyance anymore. like I'm conditioned to associate it with some thought terminating pitch or attempt to undermine my self worth.

[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

but more to developing a critical theory of mass culture... I am curious if there is some effect of using sex appeal to literally sell everything for the last several decades dovetailing with the constant hijacking done by the attention economy. our brains are constantly trying to filter out unhelpful sensations while billions of dollars are spent trying to insert those sensations to the front of the cognitive experience, and sex appeal is the #1 vehicle for it.

I've grown up with very much readily available porn but also all the "sex sells" ads that had like a conventionally attractive woman in a bikini and I gotta say, unless you let go of sex sells, getting real weird with it seems to be the only way for it to keep being tittilating

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

that's only if the audience is not taking steps to avoid advertising. certainly the baseline for titillation likely increases for people who are saturating themselves with mass media exposure, but personally and anecdotally, it seems like a lot of people at least take some steps to limit exposure to advertising. as a result, when it finally reaches them, it can be jarring.

at various points in my life, i have taken work that sent me far away from screens. like a summer in a desert with no phones, tablets, or computers. i was busy and surrounded by other people going through a similar experience, so days were full and it wasn't too noticeable until i came back to "the world" and started getting both barrels in the face 24-7. even 2 weeks in cuba had a similar sensation, due to the reduced public advertising and i had my phone shut off and put away for 2 weeks. and these were not puritanical places. people be fuckin'. honestly, in some ways, they felt more sexually charged. it just wasn't coming from ads or screens. it was coming from people.

anyway, i'm not literate enough on media literacy and i don't want to come off as some anprim type, but it really wouldn't surprise me if there was a connection between what sex we are being inundated with and the disdain/disinterest in that inundation.

[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

that's only if the audience is not taking steps to avoid advertising. certainly the baseline for titillation likely increases for people who are saturating themselves with mass media exposure, but personally and anecdotally, it seems like a lot of people at least take some steps to limit exposure to advertising. as a result, when it finally reaches them, it can be jarring.

I think that's your bubble mate, and I don't even mean that derogatory, what with the stat that recently came out that 1% of YT viewers use adblock.

at various points in my life, i have taken work that sent me far away from screens. like a summer in a desert with no phones, tablets, or computers. i was busy and surrounded by other people going through a similar experience, so days were full and it wasn't too noticeable until i came back to "the world" and started getting both barrels in the face 24-7. even 2 weeks in cuba had a similar sensation, due to the reduced public advertising and i had my phone shut off and put away for 2 weeks. and these were not puritanical places. people be fuckin'. honestly, in some ways, they felt more sexually charged. it just wasn't coming from ads or screens. it was coming from people.

I don't think this is contradictory?

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago

I think that's your bubble mate, and I don't even mean that derogatory, what with the stat that recently came out that 1% of YT viewers use adblock.

i don't think that is representative of what i am talking about. certainly more people would do it if there was no knowledge barrier. what i am talking about is people leave the room during commercials, fast forwarding through recorded content of commercials, looking at their phones when they can't, click on "skip ad" when they can. people make attempts to shift their immediate attention away from ads.

According to IPG, 65% of people skip video ads, and they do so the first chance they get.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/16/sixty-five-percent-of-people-skip-online-video-ads-heres-what-to-do.html