How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?

Since I don't get really into brands for clothing and shoes and all that nonsense, nor do I read magazines, the only type of pseudo-targeted marketing I feel comfortable with talking about is internet ads. Since the only media platforms with ads I really tend to use are Reddit and Youtube, I'll mostly talk about those. Starting out, Reddit is definitely more specialized. It seems to focus on things it thinks I would actually want, such as video games, sports, and headphones. While the advertising isn't perfect, as it seems to assume I'm interested in buying a basketball off the internet despite never having spent time in any basketball-related communities, it has definitely identified that I'm fairly young and targeted ads accordingly. Unsurprisingly, a documentary on advertising from almost 20 years ago is pretty dated, and since then I think most advertising firms have realized that playing up a "cool" factor doesn't always work too well. Teenagers want to be treated like adults, so the best way to get them to buy a product is just to show them what it is, with good presentation still being a plus. I've never bought anything I've seen in an ad on Reddit though, so maybe the strategy isn't so effective after all. Just now looking at ads I've found one specifically targeted towards players of a certain game I play, but its a gift card rewards deal, and I figured those were worthless years ago. The increased accuracy is interesting though.
When Youtube ads trying to be "cool" come to mind, I first think of an anti-smoking ad that ran a few months back. They were undeniably targeted towards teens, with "stay fresh, live tobacco free" as their slogan. A lot of them focused on how smoking would prevent teens from "gettin' to that next level" which is either supposed to be slang or video game jargon for progressing in life. The ads were often still dated though, as no one except maybe preteens ever refers to themselves as legend, or uses the term fresh unironically. There were several ads in the same vein, but the most effective in my opinion was the one about how younger siblings look up to their older siblings, and how if you, the teen watching, smoked cigarettes, your younger siblings would be more likely to too. This makes whether or not you smoke a decision that isn't just about you, making it the best of the three or four different ads that aired. I also remember a while back when TikTok ads were everywhere, even on videos mocking the site, supposedly hoping to appeal to teens and preteens. Most of the ads included older, but still popular audio clips from things like Harry Potter and Gravity Falls, which in a way shows that some things don't really stop being cool, and are probably a safe bet  for advertisers. Most other ads are untargeted and for things that I either don't care about (political ads) or just things I straight up can't buy (mostly alcohol).