Post #65304

2025-12-15 09:30 UTC

Honestly, advertising is very dystopian. Online tracking being the obvious first example. But that’s not all. How should I block physical ads in the city? Not only does it ruin the view, but roadside billboards surely caused at least one death by distracting a driver, and ads can get quite distasteful. Also, it’s not just roadside - they’re plastered everywhere! Buildings, bus stops, right in the middle of the sidewalk. Some are classic paper, some are of the TV screen type. Some are quite small and inconspicuous, but a lot are huge enough to be seen from at least half a mile away. Physical ads don’t finance anything. They’re just obnoxious. I don’t know how succeptible to ads other people are, but for me it takes an actually good offer to entice me - and usually that’s heard on radio or seen on TV (as far as ads go).

Replies (1)

@FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2025-12-15 10:40

Chose your own dystopia. Where no ads exist and everything is pay per view/read/report/etc. Or the one we’re in. The bigger problem with traffic deaths is that we developed a system of transportation that relies heavily on cars that are mostly driven by humans. Removing billboards is not going to improve on that that much. But underwear model billboard pileups are a thing. But so are those caused by drivers on their phones and my guess there are way more of those. Tracking and selling of information has gotten out of hand, no doubt. It is political decisions or a lack thereof that got us here. Btw everybody thinks they’re immune to advertising. And we’re not. The unofficial wisdom of marketing is that half of any advertising budget is wasted. They just don’t know which half. So they continue. This whole thing boils down to the fiduciary responsibilities to provide as much value to shareholders again, the bane of capitalism. They cannot afford to check which half is wasted. And just for some context here: personally I don’t mind billboard ads to be honest.

Open ##65393