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- Hacker News
- It'll get replaced with something even more annoying that isn't called advertising but is functionally identical.
People make things then talk about them. It's normal.
A careful read of this piece should show you why advertising was invented in the first place and why it's fundamental to commerce.
Unless you want to go back to buying from your neighbor or buying only what your limited circle of friends can recommend you?
by cadamsdotcom - I liked it a whole lot better when advertising pharmaceuticals and legal services were still illegal, like it was for the better part of the 20th century.
It had always been unethical since at least the 19th century, before it was ever regulated overwhelmingly, so the regulations were mainly just codifying the common respectability that was already established from the most honest business operators.
Even if tobacco was allowed in ways that are no longer OK.
by fuzzfactor - As always there is also the gradual sunset option: slap a tax on it and increase over time.
- That's easier to get past the lobbies.
- It still surfaces unexpected consequences but reduces impact.
by ngruhn - I used to know one of the great ad execs from Mama Bell and he told me nothing happens in this world until a person decides to trade a dollar for something.
How do they decide such things? How do people become aware of what things are available for purchase?
Another thing he said was that they knew half of their ad spend was "wasted" on people who would never buy what you have to sell.
The feeling I get from the author is that targeted advertising is the problem, which also has a 50%+ waste factor (due in large part to fraud). I suspect it is unlikely all the complexities of contemporary marketing and advertising are worth it.
Also worth considering to what extent the author's website is a form of advertisement itself.
by verdverm - I LOVE this idea and advocate for it in private convos all the time. Banning ads and enabling (micro-)payments for accessing content that is currently ad-supported would be an unimaginable game-changer.by khatkhati
- I think one way to look at this is that--why are Meta and Google so successful? Because they are basically an index fund on the world economy right. If you want to sell soup in Jakarta you advertise on Instagram. If you want to sell paint in France you advertise on Youtube. If you want to sell T-Shirts in Boston you advertise on Facebook
So then the flipside is that without ads these sellers now have to complete head on with giant companies who have all the brand recognition. Now you need to somehow make your Etsy store viral instead of just putting it in Facebook ads
by firasd - Cities have banned billboards. Sao Paulo did it, so did parts of London: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/clean-city-law-secret...
Hard to quantify the benefits, but I think anyone other than advertisers would say it's a vast improvement. I cannot objectively prove that these cities, public spaces are more beautiful without ads, but all of us know that it is true. Then again you have places like times square where ads are integral to character of the place.
by carabiner - > What if we made all advertising illegal? It's such a wild idea that I've never heard it in the public discourse.
Local jurisdictions have restricted or even forbidden outdoor advertising since it was invented.
by kfarr