this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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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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[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Somewhere along the line I read a scifi book where "truth in advertising" laws were used to convict advertisers so they could be put in jail and used as involuntary organ donors. And I am sad to say I wouldn't feel very sorry if that were a real thing. My hate for manipulative ads is so strong it overrides my hate for killing.