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What If We Made Advertising Illegal? (simone.org)
submitted 2 years ago by 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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[–] 5 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I’ve found many wonderful products through advertising that I never would have otherwise. So many small businesses would have to be able to show off their products to new customers somehow.

It’s easy enough* to restrict advertising, there’s no need to throw the baby out with the bath water.

*we’ve done it before, we can do it again, and if we aren’t smart enough to figure it out then we deserve this bullshit honestly.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    If you don't mind answering, what kind of advertising have you found products you now enjoy through?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Okay so Lemmy, Jerboa, Phone, ISP all were found via advertising. So if I am enjoying this conversation, every facit of it came to my notice via advertising. Word out mouth and online discussions are advertising

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Not at all. I find a fair amount through Kickstarter campaigns, like the Yarro Studios Dice-o-matic, and the mandolin Youtube channel I follow will obviously self-promote their Patreon which has all kinds of great content. A lot of product reviews done by stores would be likely counted as advertisements, too. I’ve found good music through Instagram ads for it and I don’t even listen to Negative25 but their ad videos are really funny skits all on their own.

    The thing is that we tend to like to know about things that we will enjoy and we don’t mind watching good ads. Bad ads, ads that are lying or dancing around the truth, and especially ads for things we don’t care about(which is everything if it interrupts a tense moment in a show) are all what we really don’t want to see.

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