4 ms·
Just ban all advertising.
by Sparkyte 2y ago
Just ban all advertising.
- ripped_britches 2y ago[flagged]
- grues-dinner 2y agoCancer treatment is bad for health too, but it's worth it to cut out and kill cancer before it kills the host. Not everything that is "bad for the economy" is bad for the humans who have to live under it.
- ripped_britches 2y agoI will just let you live with your comparison between an ad and cancer. Try it out on someone is is battling or lost someone.
- grues-dinner 2y agoI've had cancer, I have the scars and the lifelong effects from the surgery and chemo. Don't try that emotional shit on me. I'll make whatever comparison I damn well want. In fact you're right that it's an inappropriate comparison, because the cancer didn't do what it did on purpose.
- josephg 2y agoHow? People would still use their money to buy things. A lot of advertising is adversarial. If demand stays the same but neither you nor your competitors can advertise your products, everyone makes more money. Of course, there are lots of products where people don't know they would benefit from the product - or don't think of it. For example, life insurance, business loans, university education, movie releases, etc. In those cases, arguably the advertising is creating a positive for society. (Since its resulting in a need being addressed that wouldn't be addressed otherwise.)
- sanswork 2y agoI'm a new business. How do people know I exist to choose me over the incumbents?
- kelnos 2y agoYou create a website and do some SEO. If you're a brick-and-mortar business, you list yourself on whatever various directories exist for businesses, create a Yelp page, etc. Yes, you might get a slower start, but as more people visit your store and come away with a good impression, they'll tell their friends. But regardless, I... just don't care. Your need as a new business to find customers does not supersede my need to not suffer psychological manipulation every time I go outside or peruse the internet.
- sanswork 2y agoDirectories would be advertising. All your proposing is a world where first comer world by default have a stranglehold on the market. It's a dystopia. Outside I can agree with and prefer Billboard free areas but you choose it online. You choose to use services that are funded by advertising. They are all optional so why don't you choose not to use them?
- josephg 2y ago> All your proposing is a world where first comer world by default have a stranglehold on the market. It's a dystopia. How so? Suppose I'm looking to buy a camera in a world without advertising. I'd still want to look up product reviews and find out information about good deals from different manufacturers before buying one. Some people may visit a camera store and see what they have in stock, and talk to the sales assistants. Someone else might ask their friends - who may also be in the photography community. In any case, I don't need advertisements at all. Why would you assume I'd only buy a camera from an old, established company? I don't think I've even seen a single advertisement for a camera for years. It didn't seem to stop me from shopping around and buying one a few months ago. Likewise if I want a packet of chips at the supermarket, I look down the aisle and decide what to buy based on price, brand familiarity, flavour and packaging. How would a ban on advertising change anything?
- mock-possum 2y agoYou tell ChatGPT I said - if all it takes to destroy the economy is banning ads then the economy deserves to be destroyed.
- conductr 2y agoWhy always jump to the extreme that will have almost zero political chance of winning. Billboards sound like a feasible incremental step in a good direction. Start there, everyone sees tangible improvements and is primed to make a bigger leap. Killing an entire industry as step one, is just simply never going to happen, dream on. As a lot of HN is US based, I’ll just say in our divided bipartisanship state it’s a real shame we’ve forgotten that incremental improvements is always an option and I’d argue usually the best kind.
- Taek 2y agoEstablishing that you support the extreme action does not mean that you are unwilling to accept incremental action as well. Let's start by banning billboards, and then let's keep going and ban more forms of mental pollution until the overton window has moved enough that we can entirely ban the ability to pay to control someone's attention.
- conductr 2y agoThe type of comment kind of shuts down discourse is my point. If you want any change you have to approach it with more tact.
- kelnos 2y agoI don't think GP was suggesting this a political policy worth pursuing, but was just stating a preference. And stating an extreme preference does not imply that one would not be pleased with incremental improvement. I, too, would love it if all advertising just disappeared.
- Sparkyte 2y agoIt isn't a political statement there are other avenues in marketing besides advertising. If a product is genuinely good it should serve on its own. Advertisements lead too much opportunity for exploitation.
- ftmch 2y agoHow would this be enacted in a free society?