Early internet programmers and even CEOs resisted advertising on principle as intrusive
Evidence
When they refused to rewrite code to run ads, Berlow asked, “Who do I have to fuck to get you people to do your jobs?” Even CEO Steve Case, while no programmer, was geek enough to dislike the new advertising. When reviewing a healthy deal with Sprint to run a banner ad, he balked. “What really bothers me,” he said, “is the ads are in a place where members will see them.” Berlow asked his CEO with admirable candor: “Are you out of your fucking mind?” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 728
Categorization
- CANDY: The clash between Gekko-style admen and khaki-clad geeks who viewed advertising as ‘darkish Jedi mind control’ is a vivid, retellable culture-clash anecdote.
- XREF: connects to: Print zine culture saw early web publishers as sellouts chasing commercial careers. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 89; Anti-commercialism in programming can yield strong commercial success — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 580; Early Internet designers overwhelmingly opposed permitting advertising on the network — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 662 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Google’s founders initially opposed advertising as inherently biasing search toward advertisers
#corroborates(0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 220 - Investor pressure forced Google and Facebook to intensify advertising against their original ideals.
#expands(0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1086 - Google’s founders reluctantly accepted advertising only as an economic necessity
#corroborates(0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 884 - Early consumer resistance attacked advertising to defend the free market, not to criticize capitalism.
#complicates(0.72) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 259