What if we banned all advertising? Not regulate it—abolish it. This proposal would transform manipulation machines, and maybe save democracy itself. A thought experiment worth considering.

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.

  • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    11·
    3 days ago

    I accused you of sophistry not of being sophisticated. You should look that word up to avoid this situation next time.

    This part of the chain is me calling out. your false equivalence as you compared graffiti to river dumping which you keep trying to claim isn’t invalid and now you are trying to “keep me on track” because you seemingly cannot admit you made a terrible analogy.

    • masterspaceEnglish
      11·
      3 days ago

      This part of the chain is me calling out. your false equivalence as you compared graffiti to river dumping which you keep trying to claim isn’t invalid

      Because I never claimed they were equivalent, I said that river dumping laws are an example of how to make something illegal, after your dumb ass claimed it was impossible to make advertising illegal because it’s been around for a long time.

      • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        11·
        3 days ago

        And the fakse equivalence is we were talking about graffiti at that point. Hence the false equivalence between them. We have had ads like billboards for thousands of years in some places. Anywhere you find a whole bunch of people you find ads for the extra stuff people have. The only times when this isn’t true is when no one has extra stuff they don’t need.

        • masterspaceEnglish
          11·
          3 days ago

          So do you work for the marketing industry or is it a loved one of yours?

            • masterspaceEnglish
              11·
              2 days ago

              Lmao, and all that history and economics taught you just these two lessons?

              • If something wasn’t illegal previously, that makes it impossible to make it illegal
              • Marketing is cool and awesome, and totally a necessary part of society that has always existed in every society, so there’s no point trying to ban it

              Let me guess, you went to American schools? Learned all that America History ™?