I definitely consume too much dystopian content to be a fair dystopian barometer, but the sheer amount of ads being pushed my way is starting to make me feel legitimately anxious. It feels like a techno-dystopia where all of the neat and artistic elements have been extracted and then ground into dust for our corporate overlords. Even the ‘regular’ people are just trying to sell themselves. The streamers, the funny videos, the pet videos, the porn, the reposts of all of those, so much of it is just monetizing my attention.

Do ads even influence people that much? Does anyone even eat Church’s Chicken?! Do people consider switching their car insurance? I though the postmoderns were jumping the gun a little with the pictures they painted of a future with corporate logos and other advertisements spread across every visible surface, but now I have to see 5 ads and a cookie consent pop up to look up a quick definition. Watching a friend’s youtube video? 30 seconds of rapidfire ads from 15 brands. It’s starting to feel absurd. Are we going to be okay?

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[–] LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I believe advertising is a major mechanism for evil in our world. It's accepted brainwashing by definition. It MUST have wide reaching consequences on psychology of people, and it also has incredible power to steer how information is disseminated.

Best example is how media never says anything negative about advertising.

"Branded" is the only movie or media I know that broaches this topic.

I use ad blockers for everything and I'm bewildered when I see TV nowadays or try to use the web or youtube without it. I very rarely see ads and refuse to be brainwashed. FreeTube is awesome too. Resist!

We need other systems, something like a global patreon subscription that is automatically shared to content creators.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It isn't advertisement, it is marketing. Ads are just a symptom of that.

Marketing's only job is to make people buy stuff they do not need. It is the main reason why we live in such a consumer culture. It correlates directly with overconsumption.

[–] LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah and public relations, the black art of making people vote against their interests.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

We need other systems, something like a global patreon subscription that is automatically shared to content creators.

That sounds like Universal Basic Income with extra steps. I approve of this.

[–] Lesrid@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

It's only a stand in for UBI if everyone is a content creator.

[–] LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

There are systems for musicians like BIEM and CISAC that do something similar. So systems like that are not unprecedented. I believe we need something like this for journalism too. Of course there are issues with this, but right now conformance is rewarded, while dissent or serious topics are punished on e.g. youtube with demonetization. All because of advertisement. Nothing new of course, mainstream media primary customer are advertisers too.