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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[–] heavydust@sh.itjust.works 273 points 2 weeks ago (5 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 85 points 2 weeks ago (2 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) (1 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.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

They’re on HN acting like Googling and getting WebMD is uüuber rare

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 58 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

When I watch a US sport, I'm blown away that the ads are all medical, banking/insurance, cars, and maybe fast food. It's so weird.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't forget personal injury or liability lawyers.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 14 points 2 weeks ago

And gambling.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What’s a normal selection of sports ads look like elsewhere?

[–] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Every time I watch premier league it’s just gambling ads nonstop lol

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I was going to note it down as I was watching F1 at the time of writing that comment. There was a kids hospital charity, a food charity, a car, other sport, and a travel/tourism ad.

[–] AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space 31 points 2 weeks ago

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.

Wow, even if we imagine some different situation where information about a new development, service or creation is needed, that's what reviews and journalism are supposed to cover, not advertisement. (In b4: the observation that those have tragically been becoming more and more indistinguishable from advertising.)

[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In fact the pervasive drug commercials were illegal until the 1990s because why would you target the patient rather than the doctor?

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They are still illegal in many countries.

[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 weeks ago

As they should be

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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?"

If only there was a system of interconnected knowledge bases where new information could be published and indexed for easy lookup... Nah what am I saying, who would have interest in such a thing...

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Don't be silly, no-one knows what a library is these days! They're all stuck on that internet thing.