Is there a way to avoid advertising?

Question

Advertising isn’t just showing off products, it is tricking people into buying products – product of the year just means the company paid for the banner to show off, 85% of women agreed just means a few women out of 75 tested said it was ok, the science part isn't science at all. It is also subconsciously putting ideas into people's heads about how things are – women are the ones who clean the house, men are stupid and bad drivers to boot, you are ugly without make-up, you have to wear Lynx to attract women…

Advertising is everywhere, it is not just kept to the media anymore, on the sides of busses, in our streets, in our toilets...yes because I appreciate being told my vagina smells and I need to fill it with toxic chemicals while I'm sitting in a public loo...really I do[n't]!

Is there a way to avoid advertising?
Turning the TV over or just not watching, not buying magazines, not listening to the radio, that's all easy enough to do but what about other places?

There are many cases where corporations seem to have more power than governing bodies that are there to regulate their practices in the interests of the general public, it does not seem fair that we just have to take in advertising from everywhere with no way of counteracting any harmful messages being given (as we can just not buy the products, but the ideas they portray are harder to ignore).

There is subvertising, it is amazing how something little like this can give people the power to counteract advertising when they lack the means to compete with their messages on the same mass degree, but subvertising can be illegal (i.e. defacing or altering advertisements to counter the ideas being shown).

Surely if we cannot counteract advertising on our own level there should be some way out, of avoiding advertising?
Even if we had to pay for it – such as with things like Sky Plus perhaps we could pay for an option that gets rid of advertising on TV and radio.

If not avoid - then limit.

Although I agree society dictates advertising I also think it works both ways; if companies had more morals/ethics then a lot of advertising would not exist and so the messages being sent out that these attitudes are ok would not exist either – if media does not say 'this is ok' less people would believe it is ok.

For example; Advertisements for commercial menstrual products or feminine washes, they are harmful to health and send out negative messages about the female body. The companies are working on taboos already existing, but they use those taboos and work upon them to keep their customer base and make more money, in using those taboos they are keeping them alive and so effecting society.

Yes some advertising is also positive - for example ads that warn people not to do stupid things, because many members of society need to be told such things.

But society allows for many lies in advertising and poor ethics because, well, many mambers of society are ignorant and/or stupid so don't see the problem.

If it is believed that people need to be told to cook meat correctly, then surely it should also follow that media and advertising should not tell people lies about products that could harm them?

Answer 1

I've gone off on one here, but I really empathise...

This is brilliant. I've felt like this for ages. On the rare occasions I can stand to watch something on commercial television, I have to turn the TV off when the adverts come on. They sicken me, from ultra cool, modern mobile phone adverts that employ the latest computer generated graphics to show you how amazing your life will be if you buy the only the newest phone, to the ridiculous reality portrayed in car adverts - I loathe it all. Adverts don't even sell the good points of a product anymore; they sell lifestyles. Its not about safety in cars, its about how it makes you look to other people. And why, I ask you? Because people have to work so long they *have* to use this shallow materialist portrayal of their character. That's all we are worth. We're just consumerist drones.

If you have a job (9-5 is the most horrific variety), do you ever get the impression that you work, then you come home at night and you're advertised at as you tiredly slouch in front of the TV? Its as if they're trying to tempt you to spend the money you've just earned. I feel like some sort of idiotic pawn, my whimsical desires being constantly piqued: but now I've rejected it. I realised that working full-time was doing nothing for me because I don't get anything from materialism - going into town on a Saturday (the only sanctioned day for spending when you're working full-time) I found there was nothing I wanted to buy. Nothing at all. So why work? Other people must get some kick out of expressing wealth to others. I don't.

In fact, I'm sickened by our entire materialist society; a society that can quote adverts more than it can quote Shakespeare (I proudly go against this trend). Don't believe anyone that tries to say that the economy doesn't control basically every element of our lives. If people say that elections are decided in any way by social issues, they're living in a fantasy land. Do you think Tony Blair would have been re-elected after Iraq if social issues really mattered? No. The economy is reasonably stable, so why rock the boat with a new government?

The only way to escape advertising is to move to another country. I was recently in Spain on holiday and only when I got back did I realise again that I needed glasses again. Why? Because I was trying to squint at advertising [w]hoardings in the distance!

Answer 2

You would have to live in a cave to avoid advertising. But not all advertising is bad. There are ads for churches, schools, public events, etc. I think almost everyone would agree that these are good ads. Also, advertising is a reflection of our society. The ads reflect what people want to see. If society refuses lies and smut in advertising, then the advertisers will go back to more decent campaigns. I think society as a whole is to blame for whats in ads, not just the advertisers.

Answer 3

You would have to live as a hermit in the woods. Even then your ax would come with packaging that advertises and your toilet paper would have it's name displayed on it. I think you are better to accept this and not buy the products whose ads you find the most annoying.

Answer 4

Short of perforating you eardrums and sticking needles in you eyes you are stuck, on the other hand vote for me first I would tax the scumbag agency's to death and then up against a wall with the parasites.

Answer 5

Isn't that what you are doing now. Advertising your question???

Answer 6

You cannot avoid it. Simply ignore it!

Answer 7

NO THERE EVERY WERE I HTE ADVERTISEMENTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!