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What If We Made Advertising Illegal? (simone.org)

submitted 1 month 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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[–] mrmule@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Took a trip to Cuba, one of the first things I noticed was lack of billboards and advertising in general. It was quite refreshing.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Another example of that is Pyongyang. They do have billboards to Kim Jong Un, and memorials to Kim Jong Il. But, for the most part the city is free of billboards. It's really strange if you're used to modern western cities.