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"I hated advertisers when I was younger. I'm older now. Still hate them."

Unsolicited advertising is a cancer on this planet. It should be completely banned.



People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.


This entire comment should be attributed to Banksy, as well as Sean Tejaratchi from Crap Hound.


Copyright law already has fair use provisions that permit you to analyze or criticize advertising, or other works. Mockery is also covered under fair use.

Few ads provide worthwhile raw material for reworking and remixing.


Yes. Yellow pages worked fine.

Ads only stimulate overconsumption. They work against the free market (not the best product wins, but the one with the largest advertisement budget). They interrupt us in our work. They make girls feel insecure about themselves. They target children.

Why aren't ads banned already?


> Unsolicited advertising

Is there any other kind? Have you ever solicited advertising?


Sure, when I want to know more about a product someone recommends. 99.99% of it is unsolicited though. The only forced commercials I think I'm subjected to is during sports events. I have paid opt out of everything else. Let me tell you how annoying 5-7 minutes of commercials are when you've grown unaccustomed to it.



I generally seek out movie trailers when I’m in the mood to watch a new movie. This model works well IMO.


Its practitioners should be used for medical experiments.




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