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.

    • zqps
      link
      fedilink
      1612 hours ago

      I’ve always thought of it as waste of our mental resources. But pollution describes it even better.

      Pollution specifically engineered by psychologists to maximize its impact.