https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30270450
Advertising is not a 'foreign exchange for attention currency' (metaphor used by author).
On average, it's manipulation, brainwashing and commodification of well told lies. But that isn't the real problem - the real problem with advertising is that it works.
Why is that a problem ?
Because advertising is manufactured demand.
Last time I looked at the 'Law of Supply and Demand' on Wikipedia some time ago, the word 'advertising' appeared 0 times in there. I've just checked, the word is there 1 time as the 6th item in a list. I think it deserves way more attention (pun intended) in the economic theory.
Just look at that simple chart. A positive shift in demand results in an increase in price and quantity sold of the product.
In other words, you can make people consume considerably more stuff they don't want by constantly nagging them with ads.
Given that 'stuff' are nature converted into object we temporarily use and discard, the result of this macroeconomic ideology - destruction of nature and change of climate in half a century.
We all know the names of the big tech companies who are exceedingly efficient at pushing up the global demand curve.
This business model really needs to stop.