A while back, I was on Reddit, reading the subreddit AskReddit “What is the biggest scam that we all tolerate collectively?”
For me, the answer is advertising.
$1,300 per man, woman, and child will be spent this year on advertising here in the U.S.A. (2019)
And I doubt that includes everything; there are several industries that make their money by providing services to the advertising industry, but may not be considered a part of the 2% of GPD dedicated to advertising. Much of the stuff I hate comes from printers; but the whole printing industry isn’t all advertising (text books being the primary exception).
Some industries cost more than 2% of GPD of course. But those are worth something, or optional, or both.
I either have a choice to spend my money for those, or, I get something for it. Advertising just sucks.
The purpose of advertising is to waste my time. To distract me from what is good, and to say “look at me! look at me! pay attention to me before you throw me away!” This is a complete waste of my time, and someone’s money.
It is terribly wasteful. Some clueless person hires someone in the creative class to design shit, then hires workers to print the shit, then pays for workers to deliver the shit to me, for the sole reason for me to throw it in the trash! How did we get to this point? Who thought this was a good idea?
How can we stop it?
Yes, all of radio and television is the same waste; but, I don’t tune in. You want to waste your money – go for it. Although if someone else has the same product at lower cost (because they don’t waste their money on advertising), you bet I’m buying their product instead / preferentially.
But snail mail: I hate you. There is no option to opt-out.
The only way I know of how to stop this shit is to remove the tax deductions for advertising / marketing expenses. I’d love to see this; but I’m not holding my breath.