Advertising didn't ruin billboards, because they had no other reason to exist. Some of the others would be very different without advertising - radio and TV def

Advertising didn't ruin billboards, because they had no other reason to exist. Some of the others would be very different without advertising - radio and TV definitely, newspapers and magazines to lesser degrees. Even the "ad free" sites are not entirely free of advertising. For example, right here. How much of YC's money comes from investing in companies that depend on advertising for their revenue, and how much of that money they're investing comes from people who made their fortunes that way? Yes, advertising might be a net negative, but it's not a pure negative. It is important to help sellers connect with buyers. In a lot of ways it's like finance, which can also help lubricate the gears of commerce, but both it and advertising should be adjuncts to commerce. They shouldn't be these swollen behemoths that dwarf other industries. IMO taxes are the way to account for their externalities, and also reduce them to their economically optimal levels.