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I can’t get behind this argument when we live in an economy driven by a massive industry of personalized marketing and advertising. You espouse free will as if

I can’t get behind this argument when we live in an economy driven by a massive industry of personalized marketing and advertising. You espouse free will as if it’s some absolute, but studies show that human behavior is primarily the product of environment and is, to an extent, easy to predict the likelihood of someone becoming a smoker based on their age, race, income and zip code. How can we justify giving mega corporations carte blanche to market poisonous and addictive substance to our own friends, family and neighbors without asking that the government step in to prevent it?

colechristensen 7y ago
You're talking about marketing, I'm talking about availability of products. I don't think anybody is going around discussing the philosophy of government because they're concerned that they aren't free enough to be advertised to. There is a marked difference between governments interfering with an individual's freedom to act on themselves and interfering with an individual's freedom to manipulate the actions of others. >giving mega corporations carte blanche to market poisonous and addictive substance They absolutely do not have this. Tobacco ads are banned from TV and Radio in the US, for example. Wouldn't exactly call that a blank check. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Cigarette_Smoking_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Cigarette_Smokin...
- fcarraldo 7y ago
  They absolutely do have this. Juul has spent millions marketing on the internet and social media, and recently was advertising on TV until the networks began to refuse ads _within the last week_. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/business/juul-vaping-ads-cbs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/business/juul-vaping-ads-...
andrepd 7y ago
Just want to say you've summed up the entirety of the way I think about "buyer freedom" in our advertisement infested world.

colechristensen 7y ago

You're talking about marketing, I'm talking about availability of products. I don't think anybody is going around discussing the philosophy of government because they're concerned that they aren't free enough to be advertised to. There is a marked difference between governments interfering with an individual's freedom to act on themselves and interfering with an individual's freedom to manipulate the actions of others. >giving mega corporations carte blanche to market poisonous and addictive substance They absolutely do not have this. Tobacco ads are banned from TV and Radio in the US, for example. Wouldn't exactly call that a blank check. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Cigarette_Smoking_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Health_Cigarette_Smokin...

fcarraldo 7y ago
They absolutely do have this. Juul has spent millions marketing on the internet and social media, and recently was advertising on TV until the networks began to refuse ads _within the last week_. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/business/juul-vaping-ads-cbs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/business/juul-vaping-ads-...

andrepd 7y ago

Just want to say you've summed up the entirety of the way I think about "buyer freedom" in our advertisement infested world.