Are you that impressionable that you run out to buy every little thing that is shown to you? How do you propose that journalism, creative works, and other medias that are heavily supported by ads exist?
Pretty much everyone in this thread says they won't do payment, will block ads, and seemingly has a problem with people earning a living who aren't software developers or startup owners.
Oh but the livelihood of software developers and startup owners also depends on advertising, or even worse gasp... SALES (direct manipulation!!). They just can't admit it.
In the absence of ads-that-are-obviously-ads don't you think that clever marketers would just migrate to native ads disguised as content? There's something to be said for a clear line of separation between ads and content. It seems naive to think that the concept of ''advertising'' would ever be eliminated full stop, given how human nature works.
You might enjoy this read, which an MD friend of mine sent to me the other day:
I don't understand this argument.
How are ads "manipulating" you? They're just ads. They're not an argumentative authority figure with a gun.
The only reason to block ads is because of speed of user experience. The "manipulation" argument is the weakest reason to block ads.
In any case, you manipulate other people for your own personal benefit. Everyone does.
Just talking to people is "manipulation".