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

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (8 children)

As someone who had designed and attempted to sell things. On of my key takeaways has always been the lack of awareness or knowledge of my things exists.

Granted if I put a 50ft build board in the sky it wouldn’t change much. But if I did more than I did.. or am doing it would help.

I saw a metaphor in this thread comparing advertising to Smoking. But I think Sugar is a better comparison. Is it needed? No. But a little will go a long way, and some dishes wouldn’t exists without it. Add to much and it ruins the flavour of the dish and isn’t healthy for the consumer.

What is needed is balance and where everything has hyper sugar in it isn’t good for anyone. So I do we need a rethink, but eliminating it outright isn’t the solution.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Wondering about a world where advertising is only allowed on purchasing platforms. Say the consumer wants shoes. They go on this platform to search for shoes, and at that point advertisement is allowed. On this platform you can get related ads, front page ads etc. The moment you step off that platform however no ads are allowed.

The platforms can be like digital malls. Maybe owned by the government, or possibly functioning like a decentralised platform.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Online stores would be the exact wrong place imho. Take amazon, it become a outdated and rotten because of advertising changing the ranking and fake reviews and endless duplicates of items. There is also a lack of advancement for filtering. You'd want more trustworthy reviews, information, measurements and also more community functions to help find what you really need. Advertising would run counter to all of that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Amazon is a bad example, as it's a company with financial incentive. Hence my idea to either have it hosted by a government or a decentralized platform.

If a company owned it without good external overview then I agree we get what amazon is today.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Just nationalize amazon haha

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