What are you willing to do to resist advertising?

[Factualist]

Every time an advertisement or a commercial gets through to me, I feel strangely violated. Obviously with ads on the internet the way they are adblockers are almost a must, and I refuse to use any website that uses adblocker detection to prevent use of their site with it one. Because I understand the unfortunate reality of the world we live in, a very very few select sites I turn it off to support them if they have incredibly unintrusive ads. Beyond that, I use the YouTube app on my phone a lot and I don't have my phone rooted so I can't block ads phone wide, I'm considering it but my phone (Note 9) is notoriously difficult to root. When I do, if I see an ad come up I immediately turn the volume to zero and look at the phone from the corner of my eye until the ad ends or the skip button comes up. Ideally, I don't even know what the product or company is, but if they manage to get me I won't hear the specifics at least.

A lot of people might think this is excessive and petulant but when you think about, advertisement is a form of brainwashing. They're invading your mind and trying to control how you think without your consent. I think if most people knew the science of advertising and all the ways they try to subtly influence you, they'd break out the bricks and molotovs. I don't watch cable out of principle. The idea that what once was ad free because you paid for it as opposed to antenna TV has increased in price exponentially while now being a 1/3rd ads is completely unjustifiable. With streaming (and piracy) the way it is today, there's no reason in my mind to shell out the ridiculous amount of money it costs. Obviously I don't wear branded clothing, why would I pay to advertise a company? In addition to that, I tend to try to cover up brands with stickers and decals or paint a design over it or if it can be done without damage to the item, I just scratch it off. I avoid looking at billboards if at all possible, look down at my phone on the bus or the metro to avoid seeing the banners, and I walk on the far side of the sidewalk to avoid seeing the street ads.

I know this is all pretty out there, and I wouldn't blame you if you thought I was incredibly weird for going to these lengths, but I like I said, I just don't want to be brainwashed and I don't think that's really that wrong.

 

[Bella Figura]

I don't watch TV, I have no time for commercials infiltrating my mind.

And I'm really, really close to ditching my smart phone and going back to a basic Nokia with no apps or social media on it. Because fuck facebook, fuck twitter, fuck instagram, snapchat, and all the other bullshit distractions that have people glued to a screen instead of looking at the world around them.

 

[Yourbaker]

I like to make a game of ads.

I break them into a few simple categories because they are all simple in nature.

Fear ads is the main category, almost 3 of every 4 ads are this category. Either you are suffering from or could perhaps begin suffering from some feared physical or mental issue (perhaps a house hold chore) but if you buy the product you won't have any fear anymore. Pick a fear, sell a cure. These ads are rarely imaginative and should have a zero appeal to begin with so they are like the mosquitoes of the advertisers. They are still annoying, they steal you're limited time on the planet for their own purposes.

Social stigma ads. These are also fear ads but they key into one fear regardless of their products nature. Acne, hair lose, fat, nose hair, cheap car, old things. You really shouldn't get stress over any of this but with a little push you can buy you're way out.... Maybe. These ads just target people with low self esteem. These companies are really just like the "mean girls" from high school. "People don't like you because of your issue, buy this and you will be liked". Also boring and won't do a thing for your public image. I'm old so I don't care what people think of me, not even if I fart publically. (There's a spray you can buy to protect yourself from old people like me).

Party ads. These are obvious, your life sucks, you need a vacation, case of beer, new purse, new shoes, stuff that makes life exciting. These are just like cake, it was fun til you look in the mirror and see all the fat you've gained now you'll need a fat cure too!

When I find an ad that doesn't fit these three categories, it is either an ad for a upcoming show im not watching or it may be worth watching.

During active elections nothing is worth watching.

The largest crime of advertising though isn't the lies, if you consider an ad being 30 seconds long and sucking up 30 seconds of time from just 10 million views in its life, that's 9.5 years of wasted human time. What could we do with that time if you had it back? How much further ahead could humanity be if we didn't waste our time trying to pry money from each other?

 

[Foreigner]

I censor ads whenever possible. I haven't had cable TV in over 15 years, but when I'm at a friend's home I ask if we can mute the commercials. Online, I use ad blockers for everything. If they find loopholes through my ad blockers, I find adblockers for those loopholes. If a website says I can't view it without disabling adblocker, then guess what, I'm never going to your website again. When I go to movies, I'll arrive just before the movie starts so that I don't have to deal with the pre-movie spam. On airplanes, I listen to music during the spam session. In the gym, if they have the radio on which is 70% advertising, I'll go to the radio box and turn it off or I'll wear my headphones. Most people in the gym support the radio being turned off. The people who don't enjoy silence almost always bring their own music. On my phone, any apps that require ads, I won't use. I also rooted my phone to disable ads. I download movies through official and unofficial channels. I block all ads. I get to decide my content, not them.

Capitalists don't seem content with just getting your money anymore, they also want your mind. They want product loyalty which means they want to brainwash you into being comfortable with their brand. I am tired of it. I don't have money to waste on them anyway. Bottom line, fuck these assholes, they have no right to force me to look at something I don't want to look at.

I utterly despise what capitalism has become and I will resist it daily in my own ways. I won't spread their thought viruses.

 

[Factualist]

I like to make a game of ads.

I break them into a few simple categories because they are all simple in nature.

Fear ads is the main category, almost 3 of every 4 ads are this category. Either you are suffering from or could perhaps begin suffering from some feared physical or mental issue (perhaps a house hold chore) but if you buy the product you won't have any fear anymore. Pick a fear, sell a cure. These ads are rarely imaginative and should have a zero appeal to begin with so they are like the mosquitoes of the advertisers. They are still annoying, they steal you're limited time on the planet for their own purposes.

Social stigma ads. These are also fear ads but they key into one fear regardless of their products nature. Acne, hair lose, fat, nose hair, cheap car, old things. You really shouldn't get stress over any of this but with a little push you can buy you're way out.... Maybe. These ads just target people with low self esteem. These companies are really just like the "mean girls" from high school. "People don't like you because of your issue, buy this and you will be liked". Also boring and won't do a thing for your public image. I'm old so I don't care what people think of me, not even if I fart publically. (There's a spray you can buy to protect yourself from old people like me).

Party ads. These are obvious, your life sucks, you need a vacation, case of beer, new purse, new shoes, stuff that makes life exciting. These are just like cake, it was fun til you look in the mirror and see all the fat you've gained now you'll need a fat cure too!

When I find an ad that doesn't fit these three categories, it is either an ad for a upcoming show im not watching or it may be worth watching.

During active elections nothing is worth watching.

The largest crime of advertising though isn't the lies, if you consider an ad being 30 seconds long and sucking up 30 seconds of time from just 10 million views in its life, that's 9.5 years of wasted human time. What could we do with that time if you had it back? How much further ahead could humanity be if we didn't waste our time trying to pry money from each other?

I totally forgot about the social stigma thing, some of them are pretty fucking incredible









holy shit fuck PETA lol





And the whole "your life sucks, look at how happy these people are because they were lucky enough to be born into the upper 20% of society that can afford luxury cars and trips to Europe, you fucking loser, you fucking idiot, you're a disgrace" is peak Late Capitalism

 

[KingOfWessex]

Just waste all your money on Drink and drugs then you have nothing to spend on ads.

 

[Foreigner]

^ What does late capitalism mean to you?

I support the idea, but I wonder if this is truly late stage. I mean... the whole term is based on this notion that things can't go on forever and that a crash is coming. But what if that's not true?

 

[Factualist]

^ What does late capitalism mean to you?

I support the idea, but I wonder if this is truly late stage. I mean... the whole term is based on this notion that things can't go on forever and that a crash is coming. But what if that's not true?

Well I certainly don't think that progress or revolution is "inevitable" either. That's a liberal myth designed to make us stop agitating for a better world. I'm of the opinion that our options are socialism or barbarism. Barbarism being either any form of tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, traditionalism, etc. or complete disintegration of society as we know it.

I'm of the opinion that we're on the brink of having to make this choice for a number of reasons. The biggest is the rise of far-right extremism (and the rise of liberals who call the reaction to this (i.e. self-defense) """left-wing extremism""""). This is actually where the term itself comes from. Lenin said that "fascism is capitalism in decay".

This [fascism] is where the classes unite instead of fighting each other, and rather than being internationalist as socialists are, they are instead nationalist. It is a system that is reliant on people's fear of the unknown and the reactionary nature of the uneducated (in terms of class consciousness) masses. It is a last ditch attempt by the bourgeoisie to preserve capitalism, by infighting with other capitalist nations - a distraction from the true cause of crises, capitalism itself.

The inevitability of climate catastrophe and the almost complete unwillingness of either party in the Hobson's choice we get these days in terms of political parties to do anything about. The rise of wealth inequality as liberals harp on the misleading "fact" that more people in the developed world are "coming out of poverty" as a sign of progress and defense of the status quo. As if that makes a difference when 20 something people own more than the poorest HALF of people in the world and Americans do without healthcare so CEOs can buy a third Yacht and homes they stay in for one week a year while there are millions of homeless people dying in the streets. For the starkest example of this line of thought, see that absolute cretin Steven Pinker. Foremost public "intellectual" telling us that "everything is fine actually", just so happens to be in the pocket of big business and really liked riding in Jeffery Epstein's child rape plane .

Anyway, off that tangent. Other features of late capitalism are society's absolute disdain for impoverished and marginalized people, who in their minds "deserve" what happens to them, because they don't want to believe they live in such an unjust world. Some figures support this by propagating the myth of "personal responsibility" being the way to success in life (people like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro). Others do it by outright attacking and harassing marginalized people to dehumanize them (Steven Crowder, Donald Trump, also Jordan Peterson). Slightly less accepted but still dangerously platformed are people like Richard Spencer and Tommy Robinson, who decide to throw away the mask and peddle outright racial supremacy, misogyny and bigotry.

This is a very long but good explanation of capitalism in decay, you can pretty much skip around if you don't have time to watch it all:


Or don't watch it, I wouldn't either honestly if I wasn't really interested in this sort of thing. To save time, here is late capitalism in one picture:

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

The only thing that I've ever liked from PETA.

 

[cduggles]

@Factualist, I agree that if people knew the science of advertising they would be unpleasantly surprised. It’s designed to be very “sticky” and get into your head— how best to get there and stay there. It’s frightening how clinical it is.

Your post reminded me of a book called Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. I know there are a few Gibson fans here!

Nice discussion.

 

[Factualist]

@Factualist, I agree that if people knew the science of advertising they would be unpleasantly surprised. It’s designed to be very “sticky” and get into your head— how best to get there and stay there. It’s frightening how clinical it is.

Your post reminded me of a book called Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. I know there are a few Gibson fans here!

Nice discussion.

love William Gibson, only read Neuromancer and Zero History so far, both great. He's almost on par with Philip K. Dick for me. I'll have to check that out!

 

[Factualist]

Well I certainly don't think that progress or revolution is "inevitable" either. That's a liberal myth designed to make us stop agitating for a better world. I'm of the opinion that our options are socialism or barbarism. Barbarism being either any form of tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, traditionalism, etc. or complete disintegration of society as we know it.

I'm of the opinion that we're on the brink of having to make this choice for a number of reasons. The biggest is the rise of far-right extremism (and the rise of liberals who call the reaction to this (i.e. self-defense) """left-wing extremism""""). This is actually where the term itself comes from. Lenin said that "fascism is capitalism in decay".



The inevitability of climate catastrophe and the almost complete unwillingness of either party in the Hobson's choice we get these days in terms of political parties to do anything about. The rise of wealth inequality as liberals harp on the misleading "fact" that more people in the developed world are "coming out of poverty" as a sign of progress and defense of the status quo. As if that makes a difference when 20 something people own more than the poorest HALF of people in the world and Americans do without healthcare so CEOs can buy a third Yacht and homes they stay in for one week a year while there are millions of homeless people dying in the streets. For the starkest example of this line of thought, see that absolute cretin Steven Pinker. Foremost public "intellectual" telling us that "everything is fine actually", just so happens to be in the pocket of big business and really liked riding in Jeffery Epstein's child rape plane .

Anyway, off that tangent. Other features of late capitalism are society's absolute disdain for impoverished and marginalized people, who in their minds "deserve" what happens to them, because they don't want to believe they live in such an unjust world. Some figures support this by propagating the myth of "personal responsibility" being the way to success in life (people like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro). Others do it by outright attacking and harassing marginalized people to dehumanize them (Steven Crowder, Donald Trump, also Jordan Peterson). Slightly less accepted but still dangerously platformed are people like Richard Spencer and Tommy Robinson, who decide to throw away the mask and peddle outright racial supremacy, misogyny and bigotry.

This is a very long but good explanation of capitalism in decay, you can pretty much skip around if you don't have time to watch it all:


Or don't watch it, I wouldn't either honestly if I wasn't really interested in this sort of thing. To save time, here is late capitalism in one picture:

View attachment 12886

These are couple good, much shorter and in my opinion more entertaining explanations of late capitalism too, that I remembered after I posted this

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

@Factualist

Read Burning Chrome by Gibson.
Chomsky is imo the most important voice to hear in this day & age.

 

[yepyepwoah]

personally I just don't really buy shit.

viva la resistance!