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

submitted 1 day 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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[–] yarr@feddit.nl 15 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

As I sat down this morning to enjoy my warm and full-flavored Folger's coffee, it got me thinking: traditional advertising might disappear, but something sneakier would inevitably fill the void: product placement.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Then you can ban paid product placement.

[–] yarr@feddit.nl 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Exactly—it's tricky because where do you draw the line? If someone genuinely prefers the smooth glide of their Pilot G2 pen, or casually mentions how much they enjoyed unwinding with a chilled bottle of Topo Chico last night, is that just organic conversation or subtle marketing? Makes it pretty tough to enforce without losing authentic chatter entirely.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

It seems really easy. You ban companies from paying for product placement.

If someone talks about it organically they can.

There's no grey area there.