Should All Advertising Be Banned?

[Dogg Thang]

That's such an old person thing to say

Ads on kids TV programs are exciting when you're a kid. Seeing all the different Tomy RC cars was awesome. Making Christmas lists in March. It was brilliant

Kids love junk food too but we don't let them eat it for 15 minutes an hour while they're watching telly. What kids like and what's good aren't always the same thing, especially when it comes to something that, by its very nature, is deliberately manipulative. And adworld has got much better at targeting children than they were in our day while, kids being kids, are no more able to fully process what they're seeing. Media awareness comes later.

[toythatkills]

Kids love junk food too but we don't let them eat it for 15 minutes an hour while they're watching telly. What kids like and what's good aren't always the same thing, especially when it comes to something that, by its very nature, is deliberately manipulative. And adworld has got much better at targeting children than they were in our day while, kids being kids, are no more able to fully process what they're seeing. Media awareness comes later.

I know this, but it's still an old person point of view!

[monel]

That's such an old person thing to say

[Dogg Thang]

I know this, but it's still an old person point of view!

Well, I'm old!

Still totally down with the kids though. Now, where's my N-Dubz cd and my silly hat...

[monel]

Dogg Thang, can I have my Tinchy Stryder CD back, please?

[Dogg Thang]

Sure, no problem. I've already put it on my phone and I'm playing it at the back of the bus.

[Fader209]

Advertising is everywhere even when it isn't intentional so it would be very hard to wipe out. They try to limit it on television talk shows with the clothes people wear so they don't expose a brand, so they have a clothes rail full of bland clothes for people to change into.
How about every time you see an iphone on the TV? It's unmistakable when you see it yet it is free advertising.

Back to the normal type of adverts inbetween shows - they get right on my nerves. The targeting towards different social groups throughout the day are painfully obvious, the worst type being the bingo/loan adverts during the midday/afternoon aimed at the unemployed.
I believe McDonalds had to limit or stop their advertising around the 3-5pm slot at one time to stop the kids wanting the unhealthy stuff (mainly due to the free toy that lured them in).

[Prototype]

A few days ago I was discussing advertising with a friend of mine studying psychology, and she explained how her class are exploring the strong evidence that low self-esteem and materialism are connected, that, in general, the more people buy the less happy they feel, and the less happy they feel the more they buy, that materialism is a self-defeating and perpetual circle, and advertising is the treadmill feeding people onto that circle.

She told me polls indicate that happiness among Americans has been in steady decline since 1955, the same year the following philosophy: "Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate." was put into effect and began driving the economy.

Now I've long disliked adverts, believing whenever we want something we are less happy than before we wanted that something, and since adverts are all about making us want all they do is make us unhappy. But up until recently I didn't realise just how strong an impact they seemingly have on the happiness of mankind. So should they be banned? (this is clearly a rhetorical question, I realise it's never gonna happen, we live in an age where money is God and consumerism is the common religion, every one of us is brainwashed into feeding the economy and evaluating people based on their contribution to that economy).

I did want to put a poll atop the thread but am too ignorant to know how.

Was your friend high as well at the time?

[Guts]

[Stoppy2000]

Was your friend high as well at the time?

Haha, that sums up my thoughts as well.

[Fader209]

Bill Hicks! Such a legend

[Charlie]

Another much more obvious reason why the death of advertising would be a good thing and beneficial to every living organism is the effect materialism has on the environment. We live on a finite planet, yet our lifestyles are those of creatures living on a planet with infinite resources.

Stuff we buy rapes the planet of resouces, pollutes the environment during it's manufacture, destroys natural habitats and endangers species. And then when we throw that stuff away (and, this where it gets really stupid, usually the stuff we throw away or replace still works, we just want the newer and shinier stuff we saw in an advert) and so it pollutes the environment (again), puts toxins in the food chain and endangers species (again) and therefore endangers our health. The time when the world's resources are very low WILL come, and when it does it doesn't take a giant leap of the imagination to think nations will be prepared to go to war to secure those resources for themselves. And anything that slows all that crap down (and no adverts would slow it down) is a good thing.


I dunno, we call ourselves an intelligent species but there's nothing intelligent about killing the host you need to survive. That's what parasites do. I actually think we're living the lives of dickheads. And I suspect it's because we are dickheads.

Was your friend high as well at the time?

That one again, eh? It's amusing how the mention of drugs is increasingly used as a response to some of my posts, as if the suggestion I am/was high is a magical statement able to counter any opinion I have. But it doesn't. All it does is reveal a person is hung up on the notion I use drugs. Get over it.

Great clip. I love Bill Hicks, he was an incredibly funny and, more importantly, insightful man. Indeed, I regard him as something of a messenger, albeit a very angry and over the top messenger. Not sure I agree everyone in advertising should necessarily top themselves, but they definitely spread misery.

[Stoppy2000]

By the time earths resources run out we'll just go and live on another planet. Don't worry I'm sure they'll still have drugs.

[Colin]

Your posts always make me think of my ex, who now lives in an 'eco community'.

[Charlie]

I sometimes think those eco communities and traditional tribes people are the only truly intelligent humans. They seem to have realised nature provides everything you need.

By the time earths resources run out we'll just go and live on another planet. Don't worry I'm sure they'll still have drugs.

The last time we stepped foot on any heavenly body was 39 years ago, so what do you base your optimism on?