Would life style and society fall apart if commercial advertising was suddenly banned.

Other then objective information, advertising is propaganda and therefore, citing Orwell, dishonest.

Would life style and society fall apart if commercial advertising was suddenly banned.

What sort of a world would it be ?

I submit, less colorful ..
but so what




This probably belongs to the debate forum but I don't care for formality or jumping hoops

a reply to: Borisbanger

Nope! If anything the world would be a better place.

I don't think you could do away with advertising without a fundamental change to the global economy though. Without advertising, what is capitalism?

a reply to: Sparkymedic

Given that Advertising is about persuading people to buy goods they dont need with money they dont have unfortunately it does look indispensable.


Maybe advertising should be given a health rating..
At the very extreme of the scale a warning that reads

WARNING this advert will make you extremely unhappy

type thing

of course it would fall apart! most of our preconceived notions come from advertisements
imagine all the illusions that would be broken:
my 600 dollar phone won't turn me into a successful businessman
my expensive d5100 won't magically take me to exotic locations
people will forget the "expensive car=hot women" equation and buy cars that are actually useful and that would be the end of most of the automobile industry.
Without commercials people would realize that not all men are drooling idiots and not all women always know better.
People would realize that just because you buy apple products doesn't mean you are sophisticated, or that just because you use a windows pc you won't be an empowered business man/woman.

It would be a world of dysfunctional depressed drinking self harming people.
And that might be amusing, but it would be hell to clean up after them.

I foresee a lot of people losing weight.

No TV commercials means no quick trips to the fridge.

But then I can also foresee a lot of small bar fridges parked beside the sofa and we need advertising for those fridges.

It's a vicious cycle.

Peace

I think people would be glad to be rid of advertising at first (I'm anti-advertising myself, so im biased) but would soon find themselves with an identity crisis. No one to tell people what's trendy, or give them some sort of purpose through consumerism. Eventually things would even out and I think people would gain a true sense of identity again, one not attached to the scent of Glade candle they enjoy, or what brand name is sewed on their running shorts.

It would be a disaster for the consumer driven economy, the usual advertising tropes of planned obsolescence and false scarcity et al would be useless.

I think for the average person not relying on a factory job producing mass market goods, life would be happier and simpler. If your job was tied up on consumerism...you might be sol.

a reply to: Borisbanger

Yes.

No more Narwhals or that idiot H&R Block guy,

BOOOOO!!!

a reply to: Borisbanger

Well, lets consider how much of our economy depends on advertising...not just for drawing people in to purchasing goods or services, but consider the vast throngs of people employed in advertising to get a good view of what would really happen.

ATS...gone in fact most websites, certainly the ones using the most bandwidth would disappear without gaining monthly subscriptions. Photographers, graphic designers, management, delivery people, restaurants that cater to the ad agencies employees, the ripple effect is too far ranging, to deeply in bedded in this boondoggle of a society we have developed.

Is advertising and the media everything negative attributed to it? Sure, absolutely, but until we have a system wide reset of values and remove central banking and most of the monetary systems connected to our present way of life, returning to a Gold standard, or some other such system...Im afraid we are doomed to have propagandized advertising.

On a side note Vermont outlawed billboards on their highways, and I must admit, the shear joy of driving through Vermont vs. New Hampshire in regards being accosted by bad signs along the road, why its immeasurable.

a reply to: thishereguy

Sssssaaaaaaaarahhhhh....

I love the H&R guy. I don't use his proffered services but I do like him.

A lot of commercials are better than some of the crap shows they try to pawn off on the public IMO.

The joke is on them anyway as I generally don't have the money to buy anything they are selling.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

Get Your Billions Back America!!

have you ever such a load of BS?

also , exactly what does he mean when says that.

Sssssaaaaaaaarahhhhh..

i fail to see the humor.

Well it would certainly separate the boys from the men, and girls from the women.

If you never paid much attention to living a materialistic lifestyle, or batted an eyelid at some passing advertisement , then your life will remain unchanged

As for the rest... widespread panic, close the zoo, update Facebook, hashtag Twitter.

No it would not, I am almost there already.

No TV for about 15 years.
Junk mail is for firelighters only and not even looked at.
"Adblock plus" with internet (not used here but as a long time poster I don't get ads).

I just have to work hard on everyone else to do the same and do something about those pesky billboards.

originally posted by: Sparkymedic
a reply to: Borisbanger

Nope! If anything the world would be a better place.

I don't think you could do away with advertising without a fundamental change to the global economy though. Without advertising, what is capitalism?

I disagree, in fact, most Americans are less likely to buy your crap, after your pop ups disrupt their web activity multiple times per hour.

I know I won't buy any product that is in a popup add, not ever.

Nor one I have to watch an add for on YouTube before I see the vid.

Advertising is bs, it doesn't work, it is mostly wasted money, that then makes all the advertised products cost more to pay for said annoying advertising.

a reply to: thishereguy

He says Sarah because that was the name that was on the pile of money he picked up. Her "billions" were obviously calling to her...

It is silly, but I find him funny and I'm not sure why. Don't judge me!!!

originally posted by: Borisbanger
Given that Advertising is about persuading people to buy goods they dont need with money they dont have unfortunately it does look indispensable.

No, that's not what advertising is about.

Advertising serves several purposes, not least telling you that there's something out there that you may want to buy. Obviously, advertising aims to be persuasive, but if there was no advertising then ultimately things would stagnate as no one would know that there are things to buy.

For example. My lawn mower's broken. How do I get it repaired / get a new one. If there was no advertising then I would not be able to find out, so a fat lot of good it would do me!

a reply to: Borisbanger

My favourite material goods come in black, are cheap, and are functional.

I never purchase things according to advertising campaigns, and actively avoid interacting with heavily marketed products, unless I have a taste for them which preceeds my being accessed by that marketing. For example, I have always enjoyed Hellmanns mayonnaise more than other mayo based products from other suppliers. Hence, I continue to eat it.

Where clothing is concerned, I make my own way, and am not in the slightest bit influenced by advertising. When it comes to equipment and accessories, I am more likely to buy something cheap and useful, than something expensive and ridiculous, and if I can purchase it over the counter, from an independant retailer, the chances are that I WILL purchase it, in cash, from just such a retailer.

Essentially, I behave as if I had never even seen an advert.

I can conceive of no way, in which things could fail to improve in this world, particularly the western world, if advertising of the sort we see these days, were to simply cease in its entirety.

originally posted by: johnwick

Advertising is bs, it doesn't work, it is mostly wasted money, that then makes all the advertised products cost more to pay for said annoying advertising.

What!? Advertising is a science! It "works". It may not persuade everyone to buy everything, but there's no denying that advertisings influence is everywhere.

a reply to: Borisbanger

like I said, the economy would have to change fundamentally. Which I think would be a good thing. I personally don't see capitalism, or any other ism which operates on centralized banking/ monetary economics, as being sustainable or good for the future of humanity or the earth.

My lifestyle would be vastly improved without advertisements - I hate the bloody things.

TV ads these days are so aggressive and often aimed at worrying people in respect of their finances and insurance.

I wouldn't mind a few funny ads with jingles, in small doses, but not the wall to wall rubbish we have to put up with now.

A couple of years ago someone pointed out the Mute button on the TV remote control* and things have been much easier for me since then. Prior to that I think I was ready for a breakdown.

*I'm a technophobe