For the benefit of those Cog Blog readers younger than me (that will be about 99%) Spock is a fictional character from the Star Treck franchise memorably played by Leonard Nimoy. Spock is defined by his love of logic. He’s half human, half Vulcan; illogicality is a curious phenomenon that doesn’t exist in his world.

According to the Star Treck fan website, Warp Factor Treck, Spock ‘defines logic as the absolute rejection of emotion in decision-making, using cold reason, empirical data, and probability’.

Advertisers have a choice where to place their ads, even if in some instances they have little control over where they eventually end up.

I’ve only ever worked in the advertising industry, my experience in other professions is not just limited, it’s zero. Our industry seems to have the memory of a hamster. Our institutional capacity to learn is limited, I suspect it’s worse than most other industries.

This may explain why many self-declared experts, influencers and commentators on my feeds seem to believe that they invented advertising.