this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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What If We Made Advertising Illegal? (simone.org)
submitted 1 week 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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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

However that would work, i dont care. Open source software has next to no marketing and I've found it all through chat groups, etc.

I've found my local super market and bakery simply by walking by

I buy toothpaste by trying a few and sticking by one I like

I never watch commercials, I don't do advertising or marketing, and I'm missing out on nothing

[–] Lyrl@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

The lines get really blurry.

Manufacturers pay grocery stores shelving fees, both to be stocked in that store at all and for specific locations (eye level shelving is prime real estate). That the toothpaste is on the shelf there at all for you to see it and decide to try it... is basically due to a paid advertisement.

Bakeries often put signs about openings or events at the end of the block. Do you think that should be banned, too? What about a billboard in their own parking lot?

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You'rr under arrest for advertising open source software lol. It's illegal to discuss products as promotion is advertising.