By association…
I attended an industry dinner for performance marketing experts last night. We were there to connect with other colleagues and share best practices. Inevitably, the conversation turned to what we, as an industry, could do better.
I think about my role in all of this more than I used to. Not in the grandiose sense of shaping world history, but in the smaller, quieter ways that add up. The nudges, the pushes, the choices we make that quietly steer things over time. That’s been my work, after all, marketing. Understanding people, finding the right cues, shaping behaviour in ways that feel invisible -- yet end up everywhere.
At the beginning of my career, it felt exciting. There was a thrill to it, like solving a puzzle. Game theory. How do you make something desirable? How do you capture attention, and turn it into action? I liked being good at it. It felt clever. Harmless, even.
Lately, though, that feeling has shifted. Not abruptly. More like something slowly settling in, until it became impossible to ignore. The questions I ask myself now aren’t about how to make something irresistible. They’re about whether I should.
I don’t know when that change happened. Maybe it was cumulative. The years spent watching the world tilt further toward consumption as a way of life. Or maybe it was sharper – like the moment I read about Microsoft selling AI to the Pentagon. That felt like a fracture point. A glimpse into where endless optimisation leads when no one stops to ask why.
It’s hard not to see it now. The constant push to consume. The growing divide between those who can afford to say yes endlessly, and those who can’t. What used to feel like persuasion now feels heavier. I don’t think I realised, back then, that marketing was never neutral. That power never is.
I’m not writing this because I have the answers. I don’t. If anything, I’m writing because I want to sit with the discomfort, and not rush past it. It feels necessary to name it… if only so I don’t forget. If only to make sure I don’t slip back into pretending it’s all fine.
I don’t regret my career. But I do find myself rethinking what participation looks like going forward. How do you use what you know, without feeding the same cycle? Can marketing be repurposed — or is that just another story we tell ourselves?
I don’t know. But I can’t unsee what I’ve seen. And maybe that’s where this starts. Not with clarity or conviction, but by staying inside the unease. Not turning away.
Love, Vx
