Not too long ago the streetcars and buses in Amsterdam were plastered with huge ads for online gambling services, often aimed at young people. Think about it: the public transport, which might just be a public service paid for by tax money and ticket fare, is literally subsidized by youths with a gambling addiction. This is an extreme example perhaps, but it illustrates (besides a complete disregard for citizens' wellbeing) how ads are just a way of indirectly taking money from people.
It's often framed as if putting up ads is just a way of getting free money out of thin air, as you do when you say "without ads [...] you'd also be able to afford way less things". But that money is always coming from somewhere.
> Do you close your eyes walking around town any time you go by a store front, you see a roadside ad, a bench covered in ads, a taxi backseat, public toilets, any sports events and jerseys, TV, newspapers, magazines, radio... Are you morally obligated to get rid of those too? If you truly believe this, how do you function in society?
I truly believe it, I hope we'll one day be able to outlaw at least billboards and the like not related to any business storefront. But I try not to let it get to me too much, because as you rightly say, you can't really live that way..
It's often framed as if putting up ads is just a way of getting free money out of thin air, as you do when you say "without ads [...] you'd also be able to afford way less things". But that money is always coming from somewhere.
> Do you close your eyes walking around town any time you go by a store front, you see a roadside ad, a bench covered in ads, a taxi backseat, public toilets, any sports events and jerseys, TV, newspapers, magazines, radio... Are you morally obligated to get rid of those too? If you truly believe this, how do you function in society?
I truly believe it, I hope we'll one day be able to outlaw at least billboards and the like not related to any business storefront. But I try not to let it get to me too much, because as you rightly say, you can't really live that way..