[JetSpiegel]

I don't think is socially acceptable in the West to mention the good parts of the other side of the Iron Curtain. You must always mention the Stasi.

Even though the Berlin wall came down 30 years ago, the End of History ethos remains.

[locopati]

I mean, the Stasi was pretty bad. Soviet political prisons were pretty bad. I'll take advertising as the cost of doing business if that's the alternative.

[JetSpiegel]

But is it? Was the Stasi responsible for the lack of advertisements?

I would argue it's completely orthogonal. You can selective adopt other cultural practices. Resistance to advertising does not imply mass surveillance, it's actually the opposite.