if advertising provided value to society then surely ads would tend to get much better CTRs than they do in practice

in my view ads are a great example of a race to the bottom

some argue that advertising improves consumer information, but my view is that this is very marginal and it creates much more market friction due to anticompetitive effects of megacorporations spending billions on advertising

there's a threshold of messaging required to make a brand well-known enough that your customers will advertise for you, which explains huge marketing budgets

also the primary intended effect of advertising is not to provide mere information, it is to manipulate viewers into buying particular brands. usually it ends up causing individuals to make irrational purchases they otherwise wouldn't have

i believe that wide usage of adblocking software would improve everyone's lives by much more than just the reduction of inconvenience/annoyance/distraction

i view an individual's decision to serve ads on their website as a prisoner's dilemma betrayal made without effective communication

if uptake of adblockers was ever great enough advertising companies probably have a lot of ways they can make them harder to block. i wouldn't be surprised if they have a lot waiting in reserve

but i think that's an arms race we always win in the end once people acknowledge that it exists