The idea feels like sci-fi because you’re so used to it, imagining ads gone feels like asking to outlaw gravity. But humanity had been free of current forms of advertising for 99.9% of its existence. Word-of-mouth and community networks worked just fine. First-party websites and online communities would now improve on that.

The traditional argument pro-advertising—that it provides consumers with necessary information—hasn’t been valid for decades.

    • El_Scapacabra@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      I’m not the person you were replying to and I also don’t have a good answer to the question, but man, the giddiness I feel at the idea of yeeting every single sales department on the planet directly into the stratosphere… Pure euphoria.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      16 days ago

      However that would work, i dont care. Open source software has next to no marketing and I’ve found it all through chat groups, etc.

      I’ve found my local super market and bakery simply by walking by

      I buy toothpaste by trying a few and sticking by one I like

      I never watch commercials, I don’t do advertising or marketing, and I’m missing out on nothing

      • Lyrl@lemm.ee
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        16 days ago

        The lines get really blurry.

        Manufacturers pay grocery stores shelving fees, both to be stocked in that store at all and for specific locations (eye level shelving is prime real estate). That the toothpaste is on the shelf there at all for you to see it and decide to try it… is basically due to a paid advertisement.

        Bakeries often put signs about openings or events at the end of the block. Do you think that should be banned, too? What about a billboard in their own parking lot?

    • Tehdastehdas@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      There used to be a business catalog book called “yellow pages”. Now there are map applications, price comparison sites, customer review sites, and keyword search engines. All of those make advertisements unnecessary.

        • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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          16 days ago

          My local bakery doesn’t have that issue

          They just make great bread so people go there by the hundreds

          Open source software doesn’t have that problem, I found everything I love

          Once I need a product I can go to a forum or chat group and find reviews

          • blackn1ght@feddit.uk
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            16 days ago

            Your local bakery can rely on local customers who likely walk right by it. They produce inexpensive products that are relatively easy and quick to produce.

            Not every business is like that. Maybe they spent a lot of money upfront on research and development and need to shift x units by a certain time to make it work financially? How could they do that if they have no physical presence on the high street and without telling people at scale that they exist?

            Open source software is generally free, written by volunteers. There isn’t the financial pressure to sell and recover costs by a certain time.

            • DisguisedJoker@lemmy.world
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              15 days ago

              Perhaps there is a difference in listing a service in some sort of index, like the phone book, versus techniques intended to develop a need (or want) where there wasn’t one otherwise, like an iPod commercial.

        • MellowYellow13@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          By telling them, who said you cant? Communication and advertisement are two different things.

          Its crazy that by no advertisement you immediately jumped to you cant tell anyone about anything

              • blackn1ght@feddit.uk
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                15 days ago

                And how do you do that en-masse? How do you spread the word to people by word of mouth who haven’t heard of your product/service?