What if we banned all advertising? Not regulate it—abolish it. This proposal would transform manipulation machines, and maybe save democracy itself. A thought experiment worth considering.

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.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    12·
    11 days ago

    I have nothing against pull advertising so that if I need something I go somewhere and pull some advertisement to get information about a product I need or want. Window shopping, going to church seem like that.

    But shoving ads down my throat, no thanks.

    • whereisk@lemmy.world
      32·
      11 days ago

      My point is that the premise of the article is untrue - harking to a past that never was.

      Don’t church bells shove advertising down your ears? How about if I open a competing church with louder bells? What if I open a donut shop and I ring bells to notify you that a fresh batch is ready?

      “No more bells then”, cool.

      How about mosques? No bells, just a guy screaming from a tall balcony. And another and another.

      Even in communist Russia you had propaganda ads everywhere.

      There are plenty of ways currently of blocking most ads out of online media anyway - though underhanded means like product placement etc still sip through.