Comment by esperent

This is something I've heard called "permission marketing". The idea is that you show genuinely useful ads to only the few people who will benefit from them, rather than indiscriminately blasting millions of innocent bystanders. Then these few people will actually welcome your marketing efforts.

The classic example is advertising a new improved fishing reel in a fishing magazine. People buy the magazine (well, 20 years ago they did) because they want to know about things like new improved fishing reels.

It's a world away from the overwhelming avalanche of bullshit that is modern advertising/spam. There's nothing at all weird about hating advertising in general but being ok with permission marketing.

If you follow this idea further you'll find that very few people, even the most vocal, genuinely hate advertising. We all want to know about useful products and services. We just don't want to see a million ads a day for Apple, Coke, Pepsi, Nike, erectile dysfunction, fake single women in your area, Nigerian princes...

Because when it reaches a certain scale, and when too many psychological tricks are being played, and everything is always, BRIGHT, BIG, hyper-sexualized, when you can't walk down any street, watch anything, read anything, without seeing people richer, smarter, younger, sexier, happier than you, it goes far beyond just advertising. It's brainwashing. It has to stop because it's extremely unhealthy for our societies, our mental health, our children.