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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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[–] bss03@infosec.pub 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Price lists / labels at the point of sale are not advertising. Unpaid word of mouth is not commercial advertising. You don't seem to be following the thread very well.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah that's silly and how would that even be enforced? "Unpaind word of mouth" - you going to interrogate people how they know something? Are we going back to monarchies where your product only succeeds with kings blessing?

The whole original post comes off like it's written by an angry teenager with no real world understanding and I'm genuinely surprised people are taking it so seriously here.

There's a way to address advertising damage through things like banning public square ads, TV ads - using a scalpel instead of you know just hammering it down some absurd imaginary scenario.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah that’s silly and how would that even be enforced? “Unpaind word of mouth” - you going to interrogate people how they know something?

You would investigate if there's a complaint or other probable cause, just like every other crime. Some people will get away with breaking the law, maybe, but as long as the law can be enforced effectively but not arbitrarily it's not a bad law on enforcement grounds.

I am on record elsewhere stating that I believe there are better approaches than banning advertisement wholesale, yes. But, I'm not going to let the better be the enemy of the good while I'm living in the bad. An improvement of the status quo, even if it might be in the "wrong direction" is still an improvement.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah this absolutely make no sense to anyone who's been alive for more than a day. Prohibition doesn't work without a path to reliable enforcement and its straigh up impossible to enforce whatever garbage this "proposal" is.

It's completely uneforcable drivel to the point where any further discussion here is clearly not going anywhere so we can agree to disagree.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 2 weeks ago

Nah this absolutely make no sense to anyone who’s been alive for more than a day.

It makes sense to me. I have been alive in excess of 10k days.

its straigh up impossible to enforce whatever garbage this “proposal” is.

Not true, I provided a mechanism for enforcement. We investigate perjury all the time, and the test for "unpaid" would be significantly similar.