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Let me get this straight: you want to solve the problem of information which "lies by omission"... by omitting more of it by law? Imagine I provide some good o

Let me get this straight: you want to solve the problem of information which "lies by omission"... by omitting more of it by law? Imagine I provide some good or service that is extremely valuable to people, but there is a law preventing me from telling those people. Now those people cannot receive my goods or services. Is that not also "lying" by omission? Advertisements can be misleading, yes, and there should be regulations to prevent misleading advertisements.

chongli 8y ago
I'm not the GP but I'd like to add my two cents. A great deal of advertising is about attaching desirable lifestyles to a particular brand and paying attractive celebrities to endorse the brand. None of this is information. It's psychological manipulation targeted at the natural human inclination towards group affiliation and status seeking. I consider it unethical for the same sorts of reasons that I consider microtransaction mobile games and gambling unethical. Unfortunately, this entire set of practices seems to be eating the world. [1] [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html
- mirimir 8y ago
  Yes, that was one of my points. Advertising often leads people to make poor choices. Choices that are poor for themselves, poor for society, and poor for the global ecosystem. So for example, advertising influenced me to start smoking tobacco. And them I was hooked, off and on for 20 years. Finally off, I'm glad to say. Maybe closer to home for many here, some years ago I was shopping for a server. But well over half of online reviews were pretty clearly advertorials for one brand or another. It was very difficult to find objective comparisons. Or VPN services. Virtually all VPN review sites are pay-for-placement. That's obvious if you look at their history in archive.org snapshots.
mirimir 8y ago
I didn't say anything about making advertising illegal. But I would expect that all advertising -- including advertorials, compensated "reviews" and product placement -- should be clearly disclosed. As in "this is an advertisement.", prominently displayed.

chongli 8y ago

I'm not the GP but I'd like to add my two cents. A great deal of advertising is about attaching desirable lifestyles to a particular brand and paying attractive celebrities to endorse the brand. None of this is information. It's psychological manipulation targeted at the natural human inclination towards group affiliation and status seeking. I consider it unethical for the same sorts of reasons that I consider microtransaction mobile games and gambling unethical. Unfortunately, this entire set of practices seems to be eating the world. [1] [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html

mirimir 8y ago
Yes, that was one of my points. Advertising often leads people to make poor choices. Choices that are poor for themselves, poor for society, and poor for the global ecosystem. So for example, advertising influenced me to start smoking tobacco. And them I was hooked, off and on for 20 years. Finally off, I'm glad to say. Maybe closer to home for many here, some years ago I was shopping for a server. But well over half of online reviews were pretty clearly advertorials for one brand or another. It was very difficult to find objective comparisons. Or VPN services. Virtually all VPN review sites are pay-for-placement. That's obvious if you look at their history in archive.org snapshots.

mirimir 8y ago

I didn't say anything about making advertising illegal. But I would expect that all advertising -- including advertorials, compensated "reviews" and product placement -- should be clearly disclosed. As in "this is an advertisement.", prominently displayed.