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What If We Made Advertising Illegal? (simone.org)

submitted 2 weeks 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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[–] slappypantsgo@lemm.ee 5 points 2 weeks ago

Let’s ban all persuasive advertising! No reason not to let people make a list of features or something, like a notification, but that’s it.

[–] eugenia@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago

No, advertising is useful to small businesses and big. What needs to happen, is actual thoughtful regulation, as with everything else.

[–] kwr112233 4 points 2 weeks ago

Sure it should og course be legal to provide information, but banning ads is fine by me!

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago

My idea: no company or person can spend more than 100 dollars on ads per year, nor can any company or person earn more than 100 dollars from advertising.

[–] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How exactly do you define advertising? An overly broad definition would forbid, for example, a dentist from putting a sign in front of their office saying they're a dentist.

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