Vietnam bans unskippable ads • Hacker News Board

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#161

Post by titzer » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #90

iammjm wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world would definitely be better without ads. All ads are poisonous. All of them first convince you that you and your life as it is is not good enough, and that in order to be happy again you need to spend money to buy a $product.

As much as I hate ads, I don’t know that it’s so simple. There are products that do solve legitimate problems people have. Maybe there is less of that now, but in this past this was very true, and advertising helped make people aware that solutions to their problems have been developed. The first washing machine, for example. The problem comes when the advertisement manufacturers problems that didn’t previously exist…

Magazines, phone books, friends, stores. You know you could go to a store (or call them on the phone!) and talk to a person. "Hello, I am trying to find a thing to help me with X."

Turns out that products that work well tend to get remembered, and ones that don't get forgotten.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#162

Post by manuelmoreale » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

vladms wrote: post #77

master-lincoln wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would have been a better world without ads. There would be more competition which would improve products and thus outcome for customers. Also most of the demand of goods is artificially created by ads, so there would be less production of crap and thus less resources wasted. It would also mean a whole industry of people would do something else that is potentially not as detrimental to society. The money sp…

While I agree that the world would be better without ads in their current form, we should think why are ads required and what are the benefits. The main issue is how you discover a new product. The main benefit to society is/could be faster progress. The main downside to society could be unhappy people that consume crap. I think smart people should think about alternative solutions, not just think "ads are the proble…

> My personal preference would be a network recommendation system.

Random question: do you have a personal site where you write about things you recommend? Because that's the solution IMO. And that's the network you're talking about: it's the web. You find enough people you trust and you see what they recommend. The issue is that in modern society 99% of the people consume and 1% are fucking influencers getting paid to promote crap.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#163

Post by cramsession » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:07 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #112

_jab wrote: post #13

I've often wondered whether the world would be better without ads. The incentive to create services (especially in social media) that strive to addict their users feels toxic to society. Often, it feels uncertain whether these services are providing actual value, and I suspect that whether a user would pay for a service in lieu of watching ads is incidentally a good barometer for whether real value is present. Don't…

Better from whom? As a user, maybe. But if you're trying to compete, it's incredibly useful to get exposure. For instance, suppose you run a competitor to Salesforce and you want to buy the Salesforce keyword because you provide a better product. I don't know how you would bootstrap that otherwise. If anything the big businesses use advertising as a protection moat. As a small business, I would def prefer to be in a…

“Users” are the only people who matter. Companies are artificial constructs and, in an ideal world, would never be prioritized over the public.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#164

Post by titzer » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:07 PM UTC

cramsession wrote: post #144

charlieyu1 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I hate ads, if you don’t make yourself known to potential customers you’re very screwed

That’s not a problem for the customers though. Capitalism twists our incentives toward prioritizing return on investment over quality of life. Especially now with the internet, I literally never need ads. I just search for the solution to the problem I’m having. No push needed (or wanted).

> I literally never need ads. I just search for the solution to the problem I’m having. No push needed (or wanted).

I want to agree with you, but you only think you're not seeing ads. Obviously, the SEO corruption has made everything you search for distorted by irresistible economic incentives of tilting the search results and search engine in favor of promoters.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#165

Post by stavros » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

titzer wrote: post #147

sandworm101 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have fallen asleep watching youtube many times. I swear i have woken up in the middle of 20+ minute ads. I thought it was a news article about china when it was an ad. Who knows when the skip button appeared. The few times i have seen these, it has always been a literal fake news show about china.

> I have fallen asleep watching youtube many times. Interesting new opportunity for YouTube here. Detect your usage patterns and near bed time show you increasingly boring content until you fall asleep, then fill your head with subliminal messages in these long ads.

Why would they help you sleep and take a gamble on subliminal anything working when they can just do it when you're awake?

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#166

Post by hoherd » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

glimshe wrote: post #22

They shouldn't be surprised if ads are shown more often.

This could turn into the online video equivalent of the Burma Shave road signs.

> Typically, six consecutive small signs would be posted along the edge of highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last sign was almost always the name of the product.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave#Roadside_billboard...

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#167

Post by Auracle » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

phantasmish wrote: post #152

al_borland wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I hate ads, I don’t know that it’s so simple. There are products that do solve legitimate problems people have. Maybe there is less of that now, but in this past this was very true, and advertising helped make people aware that solutions to their problems have been developed. The first washing machine, for example. The problem comes when the advertisement manufacturers problems that didn’t previously exist…

This is what a fucking store is for . They have catalogs. You could ask for one. If they think people will want something they will try to sell it and will tell you about it if you go looking . I see this pro-ads argument all the time and it’s so obviously-stupid that I’m truly baffled. Is this the kind of lie ad folks tell themselves so they can sleep at night?

There are also ads for services. I used to be a photographer, and without my little Facebook/Instagram ads people would have had to largely rely on word of mouth, meaning the more established photographers would absolutely dominate my little rural market even when their photography was worse.

Also, I'm not sure we want a world where only the largest corporations get to sell things. That's what would happen if people could only find things through stores and catalogs, especially pre-internet.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#168

Post by cramsession » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

titzer wrote: post #164

cramsession wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not a problem for the customers though. Capitalism twists our incentives toward prioritizing return on investment over quality of life. Especially now with the internet, I literally never need ads. I just search for the solution to the problem I’m having. No push needed (or wanted).

> I literally never need ads. I just search for the solution to the problem I’m having. No push needed (or wanted). I want to agree with you, but you only think you're not seeing ads. Obviously, the SEO corruption has made everything you search for distorted by irresistible economic incentives of tilting the search results and search engine in favor of promoters.

Oh I agree. I don’t want or need to see ads, I currently do though.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#169

Post by pixl97 » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #117

simplicio wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think the best argument against it is that it makes advertising less valuable, which in turn limits the how many "paid for with advertising" services will be available and how good those services will be. Especially in a developing country where consumers ability to pay for such things is going to be limited, that will presumably deprive some margin of the population of media/services that are currently ad supported.

Funny, I would say making advertising less valuable is big win.

Heh, advertizing, individually has become less valuable because there are so many ads everywhere on every surface to the point that people mentally adblock half their day away.

Re: Vietnam bans unskippable ads

#170

Post by hoherd » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

larodi wrote: post #76

Was this posted automatically or why it reads Vienam? Without the T! And the title also reads so?

I posted it with the original article title. I'm not sure who changed it, but yeah, there is a typo which also exists in the linked article.