I have yet to find a graph that shows the market share all the way back to the 1980s, but the market share isn't stagnant--Pepsi's market share has dramatically fallen (about half since 2000), while Coke's share has been pretty stable, although declining somewhat. Pepsi is no longer the second largest soft drink--it was very recently eclipsed by Dr. Pepper.

This is what I've been saying since forever:

Who the fuck ever buys anything just because of an ad??

That they didn't ALREADY know about or were going to buy anyway?

The ads industry is a racket. At best it's a case of the emperor with no clothes: every one believes it works because everyone says that it works.

At worst, it's a thin veil for obnoxious privacy-raping constant global surveillance.

Wow two amazing replies within seconds! But this is the part that gets me. It's manipulation. That's not an accusation, that's a plain, unbiased description of what it is: you don't want something, then you see an ad, then you do.

Also taking this moment to head off two common responses, for ettiquette's sake:

1. The alternative is catalogs! Products are listed accurately and thoroughly, and we deal with edge cases as needed. This is especially tractable in the internet age, of course. See: [the Wells-Fargo Wagon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP0E1tbfi2g)

2. Yes, you are affected by advertisements. I don't care who you are: if you're on HackerNews from anywhere other than shack in rural Montana, you are affected by advertisments. Many (most?) ad spend is on "brand advertising", which isn't trying to get you to take any conscious action at all -- it's swaying your subconscious.

This sorta feels like the problem with "rent fixing" via algorithms from a few years back. The system has been bumbling along fine enough for a while, but the arrival of mass computing makes these tactics so insanely effective that they become unfair.