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Bill Hicks on "Marketing" (Explicit Language)

Matt Phillips Education1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2019–2025
YouTube
comedy · general · evergreen · 2019–2025 on HN

A two-minute clip of comedian Bill Hicks doing his routine on marketing and advertising, with explicit language. He mocks marketers and urges them to get out of the business.

Invoked in threads about ads, tracking and marketing as the go-to comedic indictment of advertising, often as a joke or a parallel.

8 comments from Hacker News

@interroboink2023-06 · in “YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers”

If you haven't seen it, you might like this Bill Hicks standup routine: ▶ this video "If anyone here is in advertising or marketing ... kill yourself" (:

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@genewitch2025-09 · in “I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse”

Explicit (seriously, explicit) Bill Hicks: ▶ this video We've known that advertising is "filling the world with bile and garbage" for decades.

@sgnelson2025-08 · in “Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity”

Just going to throw this out there: ▶ this video I do not fully endorse the message. However, there is very much some truth in there.

@imiric2024-12 · in “Sorry, Mad Men. The Ad Revolution Is Here”

I can't figure out what the point of this article is, but let's talk about advertising and AI, since that seems to be a primary focus. Advertisers using generative AI to create ad campaigns is a diversion at best. The only use of AI advertisers are interested in is how they can embed ads directly in the personal AI assistants the world is starting to use. If a conversational AI model can be manipulated to casually mention a specific brand in its output at precisely the right moment, then that's the most accurate form of targeting, with the highest chance of engagement. AI assistants are trusted much more than any search engine, or any media we consume, so it's only a matter of time until we start seeing these integrations with mainstream models. No AI service provider will be able to resist cashing in on the advertising dollar, regardless of what their "benefit of all humankind" marketing agenda claims. They're sitting on a data gold mine much larger than the one adtech currently controls, with user demand that will eventually surpass social media and entertainment sites. The opportunity to monetize AI is enormous, and that's the next advertising frontier. Advertising is a scourge on humanity. ▶ this video

@samstave2024-09 · in “Minimal Web”

> in the dark-ages, before javascript was a thing " back in your day (and mine) -- there was never such a thing as 'product manager' (read marketing exec MBA - who runs the web show) Bill hicks would have a word ▶ this video