The Wonderful Ads of WIRED

I’ve been a reader of WIRED for a decent while, and my current subscription gives me both digital access and physical, dead-tree instances.

I was speeding through my backlog just now and was struck by how many ads there were.

My favorite book on this cocktail is called Spent.

Then, given how much I’ve read about advertising and psychology (and its link to evolutionary biology) I became super curious about the types of ads I was seeing.

The commercials on your favorite show are designed for you, not some fictional other.

Basically, who are these people that read this magazine?

Wait, no—who am I?

Here’s what I found:

Arc’Teryx outdoor apparel

Onelink smart home tech
Google Pixel
Lexus
GQ
Blue Moon
SAS analytics
Fidelity
Dobel Tequila
Armani cologne
Google Pixel

HISCOX business insurance
LG Signature washing machines
Antica vermouth
Natural American Spirit tobacco
Geico

Isn’t this just a tech-focused version of GQ?

Zzzquil Stress Less and Sleep
Lego
The North Face
Jim Beam
Boss Cologne
Bullet Bourbon

CB2 Furniture
GQ
Sotheby’s
Seiko


Analysis

Well, I don’t really have any analysis, other than to acknowledge that advertising speaks truth.

That’s around 26 ads, by the way. It reminded me a lot of reading Cosmo, actually, which I do whenever I come across one. The ads are the magazine content, and the articles are little more than bait.

Anyway, we of the WIRED demo are evidently into gadgets, alcohol, cologne, and outdoor activities.

Sounds right.

GQ should just buy the magazine and call it GQ-Tech.

The question is whether magazines like this create this reality, or simply cater to it. My guess is the latter.

Humans are silly little gene-mechs.

Notes


More about gene mechs here and here.

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