Ads becoming an online distraction

My daughter is enticed by commercials. No matter the content. 

Like that Coors Light ad she keeps reminding me of. Yes, my sweet, sober 12-year-old daughter is already entranced by a beer commercial. “The mountains are calling,” she repeats to me, referring to the moment where two women get “called” from their yoga session to partake in some cold ones. The campaign is clearly designed to appeal to women, and possibly young girls. Namaste. 

Unlike my daughter, I don’t usually find ads amusing. Unless it’s an original Super Bowl ad, which are also often duds, I don’t want to see them more than once.  

Back when we had cable with PVR (back in the olden days), there was an easy way to avoid the commercials. Simply record the show ahead of time and then skip the ads. I could get through a football game in 45 minutes! 

Now I’m bombarded with ads through live streaming. Netflix, bless its heart, is still commercial free, but other platforms like YouTube are forcing me to watch their propaganda daily. 

The ads that pop up after my online shopping are annoying, and the videos that sneak up on my screen while I’m trying to read the news are even worse. They’re a real distraction from my Trump news hit. 

Facebook is the most diabolical, showing ads that reflect my personal preferences. This targeted advertising is intended to sway me in ways far more sophisticated than through any other media. It’s how elections can be won and lost (see 2016 US election). 

Lest we think we're not persuadable, one has only to look at the impact of advertising on cigarettes. Marlboro embraced a tough, rugged cowboy to become a leader in the industry, and Camel, interestingly, embraced a fashionable four-legged animal with a hump. I only mention Camel because as a teenager I vividly remember the ads in my car magazines: a swanky camel wearing a leather jacket with a cigarette hanging from his lips. His motorbike sat idly in the background (I have no idea how he would ride it), making him the coolest camel I’d ever seen. Thankfully I never took up the habit, but if I had, I’m sure I’d be smoking Camels. 

Ads get us to consume things we don’t want, don’t need, and, in the case of cigarettes, that can kill us. Yet they’re so ubiquitous in our society that we no longer question their value. Unless you’re my wife, who grew up in the commercial-free USSR (not propaganda free, but commercial free), we’ve never known anything different. 

Advertising speaks to our capitalist society, but does capitalism really require advertising to thrive? On the contrary, perhaps it hinders. 

 Those companies with the deepest pockets, with the money to advertise, typically hold the upper hand. It promotes monopolies as opposed to free competition. It’s not good for the consumer because we ultimately pay for the advertising when we buy the products. Ever bought no-name batteries and felt completely satisfied with your purchase? 

More importantly, advertising damages our democracy. Negative campaign ads taint our views of politicians and only add to our polarized views. Big donors and third-party organizations have too much influence, pushing single issues that may not be in the public’s interest. And those who are particularly strategic in swaying an election, like Russia was in 2016, don’t need to spend much money at all. 

How to end advertising in today’s digital world would be difficult, but not impossible. Wikipedia has somehow managed to get by without any corporate sponsorship, but it’s an anomaly. Consumers/citizens would have to step up to the plate. We’d have to pay higher subscription rates, donate more to non-profit organizations, encourage government subsidies, and maybe even pay more in taxes.

Hmm, on second thought... I think the mountains are calling.