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"Asking for permission [to mess with advertising] is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head."
(sopuli.xyz)
"Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs."
-Banksy
This reminds me of something I read, that if you want men to buy something, just package it in a black tin. But I'd argue that while still marketing, that's not actually advertising.
The way I see it, yeah, products do need some sort of appeal - usually sensory. Food tastes good, cars feel and look good. You're less likely to buy mints in a paper bag vs a tin (though case in point - I buy Fisherman's Friend in a bag, because I know it and oddly enough not through advertisement). I suppose the point I was contesting was mainly the intrusive advertising, like youtube ads and ads with click counters (is that still a thing?). I fear we're becoming slowly like that one Black Mirror episode with the treadmills.
I think about that a lot - how advertising would look like in my "perfect world". I'm just your average consumer, so what do I know. But in my fantasies I start with something like this:
-advertising should be consensual, meaning that advertising in public spaces would be banned. Maybe you'd still have to look at ads that are relevant to something you chose to do anyway - like vodka ads in a bar, or clothing ads in a mall.
-if you want to know if a product exists, you have to look it up, and go to their website, and there you will find all relevant information.
-Logos blurred out in media
-The quality of the product or service should speak for itself and most brand awareness would be spread by word of mouth (I have no idea how this would work in a world where online reviews exist and can be manipulated)
-All ads have to be marked clearly as an ad
I don't know. I just know the current state of advertising adds to our misery and discontent. I see friends getting plastic surgery, loved ones drowning in things they bought online, colleagues going into debt for piles of clothes they never wear once, and I just think: this discontent with life, and need to consume, was manufactured and fostered and encouraged. There has to be a better way.