Targeted cheap advertising gave grifts and scams instant visibility.

Evidence

The democratization of advertising reshaped industry expectations. Legacy companies buying the back cover of Vogue trusted that Anna Wintour would deliver a glossy, high-quality magazine. As Vanity Fair’s deputy editor Dana Brown believed, “Magazines aren’t democracies. Editors in chief are dictators, ruling by decree.” Online platforms, by contrast, offered no such assurances. Marketers buying ads on Facebook or Twitter had less control over what content their ads would support. While established businesses might hesitate to risk brand value, lesser-known companies saw this as an opportunity. Cheap search and display advertising offered instant visibility—particularly for grifts and scams. Podcast listeners, meanwhile, grew accustomed to hosts peddling direct-to-consumer mattresses and underwear subscriptions. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 590

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the shift from editor-as-gatekeeper to algorithmic ad targeting as a mechanism for the ‘death of the sellout’ — authority eroded not by consumers but by ad distribution.