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What If We Made Advertising Illegal? (simone.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago by sundrei@lemmy.sdf.org to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

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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.

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[–] heavydust@sh.itjust.works 271 points 2 weeks ago (18 children)

The web has been cleaned with uBlock Origin. Doing that IRL would be great. And for every stupid counter argument (I've seen those on HackerNews), I don't tolerate brain washing.

The most stupid argument I've seen is from an American who said "what if you don't know about the effects of a drug that could save your life?" Well, that's the job of the doctor. Your society has failed if you rely on marketing to eat random chemical dangerous stuff.

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 83 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

"what if you don't know about the effects of a drug that could save your life?"

lol what? No way anyone says that with a straight face

[–] heavydust@sh.itjust.works 88 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

5 minutes ago on Hacker News, among a lot of stupid stuff like "your life is empty without having ads all around you."

Reference for fun: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43596333

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 45 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I love that in Cyberpunk 2077 they're is often a channel on called "just ads". Of course in pure cyberpunk style those ads can be horrific.

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

There are shopping channels in many countries (or at least paid cable television) which are literally just ads. In classic cyberpunk style, it's a reflection of the dystopian present.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 0 points 1 week ago

That's not an ad, it's the "Scamming old people by phone" show.

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