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What if we made advertising illegal?

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Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#971

Post by cactacea »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #969
Ferret7446 wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> imagine a world without advertising I can't because a world with magic and world peace is more realistic and believable. It's impossible. How do you even define advertising? If you define it conservatively, then advertising will skirt through the loopholes. If you define it liberally, then you have an unfair, authoritarian system that will definitely be selectively enforced against political enemies. And in all cas…

>How do you even define advertising? You nailed it man. My first response even to the headline let alone the article was to reflect on the first line spoken by my professor in my first marketing class: "Marketing is about educating the consumer." Advertising is just one way we attempt to do that, and taken to an extreme, I have no idea how you could ever make it stop. The article is clearly focused on one part of adv…

Vermont seems to have figured this out with billboards. So clearly it is not as impossible as you are making it out to be.

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#972

Post by ConradJarret »

dash2 wrote: post #682

This idea isn't uncommon because it's beyond the Overton window, it's uncommon because it is silly and unworkable. * Total fantasy to think you wouldn't fall afoul of free speech, both legally (in the US) and morally. In fact, the author touts as a benefit that you'd stop populists being able to talk to their audience. This is destroying the village of liberal democracy in order to save it! * Absolutely zero thought…

I just wanted to say that I don't think I've ever seen the adjective "commonsensical" before, but I plan to use it heavily now!

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#973

Post by poulsbohemian »

cactacea wrote: post #971
poulsbohemian wrote: post #969

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How do you even define advertising? You nailed it man. My first response even to the headline let alone the article was to reflect on the first line spoken by my professor in my first marketing class: "Marketing is about educating the consumer." Advertising is just one way we attempt to do that, and taken to an extreme, I have no idea how you could ever make it stop. The article is clearly focused on one part of adv…

Vermont seems to have figured this out with billboards. So clearly it is not as impossible as you are making it out to be.

You are completely missing (or perhaps reinforcing my point) - billboards? Great, we'll create a fleet of vehicles with mobile advertising on the back. Outlaw that? Great, we'll pay private citizens to put up signs in their yards - can't outlaw freedom of speech after all. It's whack-a-mole.

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#975

Post by coldtea »

jagraff wrote: post #870
coldtea wrote: post #862

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't because a world with magic and world peace is more realistic and believable. It's impossible. How do you even define advertising? No ads in TV programming. No product placement in movies. No billboards. No subway or bus station advertising posters. No paid recommending of specific products. No promotional material for products - nothing with fictional elements. No web ads. No sponsored links. No social medi…

Are products allowed to have labels? Am I allowed to tell my friends I like a product? What if I put a video on youtube and accidentally include a brand name in it?

>Are products allowed to have labels?

Last time I checked, a product label (on the product or on the package) is not an advertisement. It's just the name of the product and/or brand, and maybe some lines about what it does. Even if you call a product label "a sort of an advertisment" it's fine.

When people complain about advertising today, do they refer to product labels? Or to their friends telling them about a product? If not, why are you bringing this up?

>Am I allowed to tell my friends I like a product? What if I put a video on youtube and accidentally include a brand name in it?

Sure, as long as you aren't getting paid for doing it (directly or via affiliate kickbacks). If you are, and you're discovered, you pay a fine - or go to jail.

You try to paint a "it's impossible" all or nothing scenario around marginal advertising and edge cases. Doesn't matter. If we can get rid of 90% of overt advertising - tv ads, streaming ads, posters, billboads, radio jingles, that's enough, even if "you put a video on youtube and accidentally include a brand name in it".

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#976

Post by int_19h »

miki123211 wrote: post #922

Advertising is a tax on the rich. It subsidizes basically all modern entertainment, from the filmmaking and sports industries (through TV Shows and sports broadcasts, respectively), to musicians and amateur filmmakers (through Spotify and Youtube). The costs of advertising are ultimately passed down to consumers in the form of higher prices for products and services, not unlike a VAT or sales tax. Because rich people…

If we want to tax the rich to subsidize the poor, let's just do it directly, instead of feeding an army of parasites along the way.

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#978

Post by Cub3 »

dash2 wrote: post #682

This idea isn't uncommon because it's beyond the Overton window, it's uncommon because it is silly and unworkable. * Total fantasy to think you wouldn't fall afoul of free speech, both legally (in the US) and morally. In fact, the author touts as a benefit that you'd stop populists being able to talk to their audience. This is destroying the village of liberal democracy in order to save it! * Absolutely zero thought…

> Total fantasy to think you wouldn't fall afoul of free speech, both legally (in the US) and morally

Can you still advertise smoking in the US?

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#979

Post by cxr »

Animats wrote: post #315
barbazoo wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That idea about taxation is interesting, I’ve never considered that angle. It would be very unpopular with the people I’d imagine.

Historically, marketing cost was a small fraction of manufacturing cost. Gradually, marketing cost took over in many sectors. STP Oil Treatment was noted in the 1960s for being mostly marketing cost.[1] Marketing cost began to dominate in long-distance telephony, in the era when you could pick your long distance company. Retail Internet access is dominated by marketing cost. The total amount of consumer products that…

Mozilla Corporation spends about 60 million a year or more on marketing—which could fully fund the R&D of an entire goddamn browser—and yet the net result is approximately what you'd get if the annual marketing budget were $0.

Don't discount the opportunity that "advertising" presents to smuggle in a bunch of expenses that are either zero or negative on ROI.

Re: What if we made advertising illegal?

#980

Post by ForOldHack »

gcp123 wrote: post #262

I can’t stop thinking about this article. I spent a long time in ad tech before switching to broader systems engineering. The author captures something I've struggled to articulate to friends and family about why I left the industry. The part that really struck me was framing advertising and propaganda as essentially the same mechanism - just with different masters. Having built targeting systems myself, this rings p…

I would also recommend "Merchants war" by Fredrick Phol. WWIII was won by Madison Ave.
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