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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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[-] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Isn't the problem with banning ads that you'd just gets "ads" that aren't marked as such? Like, ads are still going to happen, they just won't be clearly marked cause that would be illegal.

EDIT: Would love to hear how the downvoters would enforce an advertisement ban. What happens when an influencer randomly endorses a brand and then that brand also just coincidentally happens to give the influencer a "generous donation" or perhaps a life-time usage coupon?

[-] CoffeeKills@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Yes the 90s kids shows were all vehicles to sell toys and cereals because advertising to kids directly was heavily restricted.

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[-] Litebit@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

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.

[-] brax@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 months ago

I've literally never understood the advertising industry.

Like, a company gives another company money to waste bandwidth... How many people even watch ads? As a kid, that's when you'd leave the TV to get a drink or use the bathroom. As an adult, I run adblockers and haven't see an advertisement in ages - yet these companies are continuing to spend money on this?

What's worse is how they actually think people associate the random shit that plays before/during the content you want to watch to the point that they're forcing creators to dumb down the content. Like, I get it if the platform itself is shit, but come on. If you REALLY want to know what's harming your brand, it wouldn't be the guy saying "shit fuck" 50 times, it would be the fucking advertisement that's breaking the flow and interrupting the guy saying "shit fuck" 50 times. I'd sooner see people avoiding these products specifically because of the negative association.

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[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 6 points 6 months ago

My idea: no company or person can spend more than 100 dollars on ads per year, nor can any company or person earn more than 100 dollars from advertising.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

The problem is: Where does advertising start. Is mentioning a brand name somewhere already advertising? If I have a brand, call it GLURP, am I allowed to print GLURP on the product, on the box, on the instructions? Am I allowed to have a website called GLURP.com, and what would be allowed to be shown there? Can I open a shop and have a sign "GLURP" over the window? Can I really exhibit my products there?

Because all of this is advertising.

I think we can all agree that 99.99% at least of intruding ads on the net, billboards, TV, radio, whatever, are annoying and should go away. But any ruling trying to reign this in needs to set 100% clear and undisputable limits, because they will sacrifice their own kids to somehow skirt such a law. If you don't believe me, look at tax laws and how the rich don't pay taxes (despite frequent bouts of crying over the 37% they never pay).

[-] executivechimp@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 months ago

No shit. I don't think anybody wants to ban any of your examples. It's the 99.9% as you said that's being discussed here. Of course the ruling would have to be clear. That's true of all such rulings. And of course businesses will try to skirt the law, because that's always the case with businesses.

[-] Resol@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

I see advertising as a necessary evil. It helps small businesses take off and stay afloat (especially when alternatives for being funded aren't viable for them), but at the same time it basically promotes corporate greed by shoving ads down our throats.

Abolishing advertising entirely would be improbable. I just want it to be toned down to the point where we're all comfortable with it. Too much of a good thing inevitably becomes a bad thing. But too little of a good thing is also a bad thing. So things should be taken in moderation. In the case of advertising, the first statement applies; there's way too much of it, it's really in-your-face and disruptive, and we're all getting sick of it.

[-] WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

As much as I'd be down with this I don't see it happening considering no one wants to pay for the services they use that are ad supported. For example everyone always seems to shit on YouTube premium but that is a currently existing way to get rid of ads on the service. Every time there's an option between ad supported and ad free but paid people tend to just pick ad free. So while I think outlawing ads would be good at least with the current state of the world it would only be a net negative, killing off a bunch of small and big websites that rely on ads.

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[-] j4k3@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

I have existed totally ad free for a few years now. I use a whitelist DNS filter.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Ok but what if invent a new product that nobody even knows how to use? Just hope people take the chance on random unknown thing. Where is the ad non ad line drawn?

[-] bss03@infosec.pub 5 points 6 months ago

The communication methods mentioned in the summary can work for this. It might take longer than a quarter-year to peak/saturate the market but introducing such a novel product should require longer-term thought.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

What communication method that could exist that is not fundamentally an ad. Unless people go around window shopping but then again is window of the shop an ad? What if you put a little board with pricing there? What if it's written very nicely?

I think a bad ad is bad and good ad is good, it's OK to police this but outright ban seems kinda silly to realize

[-] bss03@infosec.pub 4 points 6 months ago

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.

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[-] whereisk@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

The idea that advertising is a new invention is nonsense.

Yes, it had different forms but it was there.

Eg: What are the priests if not sales people and what are the Sunday bells if not calls to action, and what are the icons and statues if not aspirational advertising and fomo?

What are shop windows? What are branding marks?

Here is advertising in Ancient Rome

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[-] MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 months ago

I don't get a lot of ads already, and I could honestly use more in terms of new games and movies coming out. Word of mouth doesn't work great for obscure things either.

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[-] daepicgamerbro69@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

then you would have illegal advertising edit: people giving down votes as if i am wrong. lmaoing @ u all

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 months ago

It's called graffiti and it's a massive improvement over capitalist advertising.

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this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
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