"Does Internet Advertising Work?"

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/a-dangerous-question-does-internet-advertising-work-at-all/372704/

This interesting article from the Atlantic questions the efficiency and productivity of Internet advertising. I think it is a good expanding reading material to our class. In summary, there are two opinions in this article:

1. Consumers are going to buy the product anyway. There is no unambiguous method to distinguish consumers between who buy the product because of the ad's influence, and who are going to buy the product anyway. This opinion questioned the validation of any Internet advertising effectiveness measurement methods

2. It could be "other information" made the decisive influence on consumers. The article specific mention the example of user's comments is an important factor compare to the Internet advertising. However, I think the article overlook the existence of fake review, which is the grey part of the Internet advertising.