No, there are very few markets in which all of the buyers have perfect information.

It is extremely common in the science/technology sector that buyers aren't looking for a solution to a problem they have because they are under the impression that a solution doesn't exist.

The archetypal business-school case study for this is the story of Viagra. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/27/viagra...

But it applies to most new technology in a less dramatic sense.

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kibwen 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

If the implication is that the ad industry helps to address the problem of buyers having imperfect information, that couldn't be more wrong.

The entire point of the ad industry is to muddy the waters and psychologically manipulate consumers. It's not even remotely interested in informing, it's interested in propagandizing.

	▲	kube-system 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Obviously a gigantic industry has more than a singular impact on society. I only mentioned the one impact above because that was specifically the topic of discussion. There are also many reasons that the ad industry needs to be tightly regulated, of which your point is one.

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lm28469 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> No, there are very few markets in which all of the buyers have perfect information.

This is solved by 5 minute of searches on the web in 99% of cases really. I never in my life bought something because I've seen an ad about it, meanwhile I solved countless of my problems by thinking about the issue and looking for a solution online or talking to people about it

	▲	kube-system 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Absolutely! But, you're missing the cognitive part of this. People don't search for things that they don't think exists.