[Nevermark]

I can't say I never see an ad, but I avoid/cancel services with ads, or happily sign up at the no-ad level.

When I do see ads its shocking. Car ads have little to do with cars, and everything to do with insecurity and Pavlovian hacks. Idiocracy drip by drip.

People expose themselves to crap influences day in and day out, then imagine this or that ad isn't impacting them. The stream has profoundly impacted them or they wouldn't tolerate any of it.

[somenameforme]

I can't really remember the last time I saw an ad. And as a result (probably?) I find I "want" for far fewer things than most people who let themselves be drawn in by ads. If a million dollars just hopped into my bank account, I'd probably just invest it and go back to living, more or less, the same. And I'm in no way whatsoever rich. But contentedness is cheap, and easy, when you don't let yourself get drowned into the endless vacuum of artificial demand. [1]

I am absolutely certain that the exponential increase in advertising is probably going to ultimately have been found to be at least partly responsible for so many of the mental and psychological problems that seem to be on the exponential increase in places like America. Humans are not designed to live our lives as donkeys chasing a carrot on a stick.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_demand

[godelski]

> Car ads have little to do with cars,

That's because most car ads aren't actually trying to sell you the car. They are instead trying to sell you the idea of the car's status[0]. While people are most familiar with ads that are blatant attempts to get you to buy something, many are much more indirect. It's also why native advertising is so nefarious. A large portion of ads actually aren't the direct version, but most often people don't notice they're taking in an ad, and that's kinda the point.

[0] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-26-me-62995-...

[kibwen]

> People expose themselves to crap influences day in and day out, then imagine this or that ad isn't impacting them.

Precisely. Subjecting yourself to advertising (or allowing your children to be subjected to advertising) is simply bad mental hygiene.