Why Customers Ignore 90% of Ads They See

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Why Customers Ignore 90% of Ads They See

Your customer scrolls past hundreds of ads every single day, on Instagram, YouTube, Google, billboards, emails, even inside apps.

Now ask yourself honestly:

Why should they stop for yours?

The uncomfortable truth is this:

Customers don’t ignore ads because they hate brands.

They ignore ads because most ads give them no reason to care.

Let’s break down why 90% of ads are invisible, with real examples, and what smart brands do differently.

1) Customers Are Not Ignoring Ads. They’re Filtering Noise

The average person sees 500–1000 marketing messages daily.

The human brain adapts by developing an automatic filter.

Anything that looks like:

“Buy Now”

“Best Quality”

“Limited Offer”

Stock visuals + generic copy gets mentally blocked in seconds.

Example:

A skincare brand runs an ad saying:

“Best organic skincare for glowing skin ✨”

Now compare that to:

“Why your expensive skincare still isn’t fixing your acne”

One feels like marketing.

The other feels like a conversation.

People don’t ignore ads.

They ignore boring, predictable messaging.

2) Most Ads Talk About the Brand, Not the Customer

One of the biggest reasons ads fail is brand-centric thinking.

Most ads say:

“We are the best”

“Our product is premium”

“Our service is trusted”

Customers are subconsciously asking:

“What does this do for me?”

Example:

 “We are a creative agency with 10 years of experience”

 “Why most brands spend money on ads but don’t see sales”

The second speaks directly to a problem the customer already feels.

People don’t care about your brand.

They care about their problems.

3) Ads Don’t Match the Customer’s Stage of Awareness

Not every customer is ready to buy.

But most ads behave like they are.

There are 5 stages of awareness:

* Unaware (they don’t know they have a problem)

* Problem-aware

* Solution-aware

* Brand-aware

* Ready to buy

Most brands jump straight to Stage 5.

Example:

A gym runs:

“Join now! Flat 20% off”

But the audience is still thinking:

“I don’t have time”

“Gyms never work for me”

“I feel uncomfortable starting”

A smarter ad would say:

“Why most people quit the gym in the first 30 days”

That ad earns attention before asking for action.

4) Repetition Without Strategy Kills Attention

Seeing the same ad again and again doesn’t build trust,

it builds ad blindness.

Brands often:

* Run one creative for months

* Change only the caption

* Increase budget instead of improving message

Example:

If someone ignores your ad 5 times, the 6th time doesn’t magically work.

Smart brands rotate:

Hooks

Angles

Visual storytelling

Emotional triggers

Attention is not built through repetition alone.

It’s built through relevance.

5) Ads Look Like Ads And That’s the Problem

The fastest way to be ignored?

 Look like an ad.

Over-polished visuals, salesy scripts, fake smiles, customers recognize them instantly.

Example:

A phone-shot video saying:

“Here’s why this brand doubled sales without increasing ad spend”

often performs better than a studio-shot commercial saying:

“Premium solutions for premium brands”

Why?

Because it feels human, not promotional.

At Peace Productions, we don’t believe advertising is about shouting louder.

We believe it’s about earning attention through insight, psychology, and relevance.

In a world where 90% of ads are ignored, Peace Productions helps brands create the 10% people actually notice, remember, and trust.