[firasd]

I think one way to look at this is that--why are Meta and Google so successful? Because they are basically an index fund on the world economy right. If you want to sell soup in Jakarta you advertise on Instagram. If you want to sell paint in France you advertise on Youtube. If you want to sell T-Shirts in Boston you advertise on Facebook

So then the flipside is that without ads these sellers now have to complete head on with giant companies who have all the brand recognition. Now you need to somehow make your Etsy store viral instead of just putting it in Facebook ads

[Timon3]

On the other hand, brand recognition is fundamentally a function of advertisement. This would mean that the money spent on advertising has to be invested into improving products instead, and without the ad industry actively destroying every halfway honest avenue of comparing actual product performance, you have a chance of customers recognizing your product's advantages.

[dredmorbius]

I've long considered advertising to be an anti-signal. Overly-advertised goods/services are those I actively avoid.

Seek out alternatives, usually local, FS/OSS, noncommercial, etc. Sometimes you might get burnt, but often it's quite the pleasant surprise.

And yes, every so often I find something that's good *despite its being heavily advertised.

[Timon3]

I try to do the same, but I rarely know which ones get advertised too much due to adblocking. It'd be great if there'd be some directory which lists the big offenders!

[dredmorbius]

Some breaks through. I figure that which does has to be pretty bad.

(Various methods: occasional use of un-blocked media, podcasts, being out-and-about and exposed to street ads, others' video / audio / streaming experiences, print, bars / restaurants / offices / gyms, etc.)