The idea feels like sci-fi because you’re so used to it, imagining ads gone feels like asking to outlaw gravity. But humanity had been free of current forms of advertising for 99.9% of its existence. Word-of-mouth and community networks worked just fine. First-party websites and online communities would now improve on that.
The traditional argument pro-advertising—that it provides consumers with necessary information—hasn’t been valid for decades.
I think some kind of mix approach, example some countries ban some kind of advertising. Advertising medical prescription drugs and treatments is illegal in some countries.
Alternatively companies should pay me to watch their advertisements. Organize events to pay people to watch their advertisement.
With smart glasses AR and AI we should be able to block out all billboard, posters or it could go the opposite way glasses show all kind of adverts… hmm. We need open source AR smart glasses with adblock.
then you would have illegal advertising
Sao Paolo did this in 2006.
Under the cult of the “Invisible Hand of the Free Market”, the prevailing ideology of neoclassical economics and the modern global economy, advertising is not necessary. Why should a firm have to convince me to buy anything if the market dictates prices and the flow of commodities? Yet here we are.
How did it go? Why did they stop it?
I refuse to watch all advertising.
Los Angeles county vs Orange county.
LA allows billboards, OC doesn’t. It just feels so much cleaner and like a breath of fresh air as you drive from LA into OC.
Same with Maine, state banned billboards. Makes it super weird when you head south and get assaulted by them in Mass
People talk about tech giants, but Facebook and Google are actually advertising giants. They pour much more money into their advertising than they do into r&d.
Many brands have a cost structure where, for each product sold, more money goes to advertising than to the person who actually made the product. Sometimes 2 or 3 times more. That’s where the battle for attention is taking us, a place where attention from customers is worth much more than the effort of the worker.
None of this is inevitable, advertising should be heavily taxed and regulated.
I would like meaningful regulation on advertising. Something to the effect of “STOP BLASTING MY FACE WITH ADS EVERY CHANCE YOU GET YOU SCUMFUCKERS”
There is a gas station nearby who runs non-stop unmutable ads. I don’t go to that gas station anymore.
I HATE when I am forced to watch commercials, in front of my face on the gas pump, while I am pumping gas into my vehicle. I should really get a discount on my gas for that.
No, advertising is useful to small businesses and big. What needs to happen, is actual thoughtful regulation, as with everything else.
It should be text only, purely factual, and very limited.
“We are blah, selling blah for $x, at $location”
I concur.
Some places limit advertising more than others. Banned on footpaths and dangerous spots. What about sales persons? How do you brand a product? I think it would have to be well defined.
I am ok with technical information being provided by a staff member. So much shit is peddled through marketing. As the scientist designing the product, I want to tell them the truth, customers love the truth, in this regard. I think banning deception and conning further would be a good way. And fuck this debt model of economics. And how about universities turn back into noble education organisations, not cocksucking psuedo-businesses.
I think govts/politicians like keeping the vague open because they use it, too. Their propaganda departments are cucked with good fact checking teams.
“THE JOY OF NOT BEING SOLD ANYTHING”
Freedom from mind flaying (advertising) !
Advertising is pollution
I’ve always thought of it as waste of our mental resources. But pollution describes it even better.
Pollution specifically engineered by psychologists to maximize its impact.
Emotional pollution Mind pollution SOUL POLLUTION
Oh what a world. But it would NEVER happen. Might as well wish for super powers.
Certain types of advertising is illegal where I’m from. In particular: political adverts of any kind, and ads that target children.
Where is this utopia?
No idea where they live but here in Germany ads for political parties are severely limited except during the months leading up to an election and advertising aimed a children is harshly regulated.
The economy should exist to serve real needs of the people. All that advertisement does is create a fake desire for consumption which simply wastes respurces.
There is some awareness effect, too. If I like burgers and see a listing for a new burger place in my neighborhood, learning about a potential new place I’d like to include in my going-out rotation feels like a win. If I need a home repair and see a neighbor with a yard sign for a local contractor, that’s helpful in compiling a list of potential companies to check out.
What about word of mouth? If I want to find a good place to eat, I find asking a local “hey what’s the best restaurant around here?” to yield way better results than ads.
Getting rid of advertising in a capitalist society would be devastating for all new and small businesses. Start an IT company, tow truck company, Trash removal, plumber, electrician, pest, all dead. Really any company that isnt already known would likely die, and the current large companies would be the only ones that exist. Also what counts as advertising, am I going to jail for telling my friend about a new game I tried? That’s advertising.
There used to be a business catalog book called “yellow pages”. Now there are map applications, price comparison sites, customer review sites, and keyword search engines. All of those make advertisements unnecessary.
You’re absolutely right. Any small business left would beg big corporations for buyouts, for pennies on the dollar. Small time influencers would skirt it by the millions. It’d make cyberpunk fiction look tame.
It might be better if some “standard catalog” was popularized, but still a calamity.
Yeah I mean a had a Lyft driver give me a card for her son the other day who opened a mobile hair salon. Is it useful for people, sure. Could he exist without advertising, absolutely not.
Advertising is illegal in São Paulo. At least, outdoor advertising is illegal.
Look closely – what don’t you see?
Otters!
Wait, no, geraffes
Geraffes are dumb. Stupid long horses.
Birds
Well obviously, we all know birds aren’t real
There are ads on the very right side, middle, of this picture
oh nice catch. In retrospect this might actually be an older photo.
