this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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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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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Let’s ban all persuasive advertising! No reason not to let people make a list of features or something, like a notification, but that’s it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Sure it should og course be legal to provide information, but banning ads is fine by me!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

No, advertising is useful to small businesses and big. What needs to happen, is actual thoughtful regulation, as with everything else.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month 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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