What we find distasteful is inherently subjective after all. Designing ads is a tricky one (and really, I have never had much of a result from this type of paid advertising so I don't do any) and I recognize the need to maximise CTR where ad budget is concerned.
But in the same way that Godaddy uses buxom female models to promote their products (which works well for them) and some people find that distasteful, I find this distasteful.
> But in the same way that Godaddy uses buxom female models to promote their products (which works well for them) and some people find that distasteful, I find this distasteful.
Bingo. I find it odd how many people here either seem to be missing your point entirely, or are just trying to be contrarian and '1-up' you by being saying it's effective' (virtually implying that it's therefore 'ethical'), when that wasn't even what you were arguing against to begin with.
If this were a post calling out godaddy about their usage of women (as per your analogy), then most comments here would probably be agreeing with you, but since it's something more 'controversial' and closer to what we as developers do for a living, then suddenly your actual point isn't as important anymore... I don't want to attribute it to a lack of 'self-awareness', but it is a bizarre phenomenon.
Whenever it's convenient, HN will always reliably argue against the use of 'morality' in arguments, because it's just so 'subjective', that it's not even worth bringing it up at all (which is just lazy critical thinking IMO, but oh well).
What we find distasteful is inherently subjective after all. Designing ads is a tricky one (and really, I have never had much of a result from this type of paid advertising so I don't do any) and I recognize the need to maximise CTR where ad budget is concerned.
But in the same way that Godaddy uses buxom female models to promote their products (which works well for them) and some people find that distasteful, I find this distasteful.
It's a personal opinion.