I use ad blockers and open source privacy focused software whenever I can but occasionally I have to use computers that don’t belong to me or an older phone where my usual applications aren’t installed and seeing all the advertisements just feels dirty and dystopian.

I think the worst ads are the text to speech ones that say “Download this app today”. The unblinking energenic people saying you can make a living at home are probably a close second.

  • Melllvar@startrek.website
    54·
    1 year ago

    “Jarring” would have also been acceptable.

    Most people are so desensitized to ads that they barely register. So the advertisers ramp up the attention-grabbing. Repeat. So when I actually see an advertisement it nearly knocks me out of my chair because I’m not desensitized anymore.

    • lenathaw@lemmy.ml
      12·
      1 year ago

      My sister shared me an Instagram reel for a [brand] bag review and asked me to buy it for her (there’s no [brand store] in her city).

      It was such an obvious advertising campaign by the brand, when I walked into the store the same reel she shared me was playing in the store screens

      • thesilverpig@lemmy.world
        14·
        1 year ago

        I’m 90% sure I understood what you are saying, but I wouldn’t be angry if you ninja edited your comment to fix some of the typos. Here’s a cute turtle to indicate I’m not trying to be a dick, just gently nudge you cause I want to understand. 🐢

        • lenathaw@lemmy.ml
          6·
          1 year ago

          no worries mate, idk why my comment was missing some words, spaces and letters

  • justastranger@sh.itjust.works
    53·
    1 year ago

    Ads nowadays are little more than psychological assault and it can’t be healthy to be exposed to it regularly. My Home Ec teacher back in the day had a whole unit about the different manipulations present in advertisements and it was really enlightening and upsetting. Modern advertising should be banned or severely regulated.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
      151·
      1 year ago

      I support significant regulation, but it won’t happen. But having a course like the one you took as well as media-literacy should be required middle-school education with a more sophisticated follow-up in high school. That also won’t happen because then you don’t get the people who vote for GOP pieces of shit. It’s in their interest to have citizens who are easily manipulated.

      My father said babies were being aborted basically when ready for birth. I said there’s no way that was happening, said send me a link. One glance at the page and I didn’t need to read the article because of the gimmicks all over plus obviously bogus ads. He had a doctorate of mech engineering, but he couldn’t handle life on the internet. Typing this, I’m horrified to realize that I’m glad he passed when he did and didn’t end up with ever-increasingly wacko beliefs that could have harmed our relationship.

  • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
    36·
    1 year ago

    Yeah I agree.

    It’s made me very intolerant of ads. It’s kind of surprising how much effort I will invest to avoid ads, and avoid supporting people who make a living from advertising revenue.

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
    29·
    1 year ago

    yes, I despise ads. It’s gotten to the point where if I’m forced to endure an ad before a youtube video, I’ll mute it and avert my eyes. It feels like a psychological assault out of nowhere. it’s worse at gas station pumps, where I can’t always mute it

    • systemglitch@lemmy.world
      6·
      1 year ago

      Oh right? I never watch or listen to them. Given no other option I’ll even cover my ears and hum. Ads breAk the soul, and I literally feel healthier not being subjected to them.

      • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        United States. there are Ads everywhere. for the wildest shit, too. Ads for medications and prescription drugs are the worst of them, shouldn’t even be allowed… but, ya know… lobbyist money (A.K.A. bribes)

  • FireWire400@lemmy.world
    24·
    1 year ago

    The worst ones I’ve ever seen by far are ads for mobile games. Some, if not the majority, are full of fetish content, gore and other gross and disturbing stuff just for the shock value; most of the “gameplay” that’s shown has nothing to to with the actual game.

    Some ads have real people in them act out what (supposedly) happens in-game, those are almost worth watching for their trash value.

    • GloveNinja@lemmy.world
      6·
      1 year ago

      Those ads bother me more than most because It’s entirely false advertising. Nothing shown in those ads for the most part reflects the actual gameplay in any way shape or form.

      There was somebody who actually released a mobile game that has all of like the fake game mechanics from all the advertisements that you see on those ads and it’s awful but really funny lol

  • whofearsthenight@lemm.ee
    21·
    1 year ago

    My latest ad-shock was over at a friend’s house. I’ve not had cable since probably '03? They have cable because a parent lives with them and insists/pays. Just having the TV on playing random things felt weird. Weirder still is having the movie interrupted by ads every 5 seconds. And the ads are just gross. The only thing that was decent was using it as a discovery service. The movie, one of the X-Men that was not one of the good ones, was what we stumbled upon. We watched for a bit, then ended up switching to watching it elsewhere to dunk on it. In ad-free, interruption-free, 4k with surround. Paying for the cable experience (which is rapidly the streaming experience) seems entirely anachronistic.

  • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
    20·
    1 year ago

    Whenever I see someone’s computer who doesn’t use adblocker it blows my mind. I can’t imagine going back to that shit.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
      4·
      1 year ago

      It’s a fun game of too many ads leading to adblockers, which leads to those not using adblockers to get twice as many ads, more people use adblockers, etc. Until the only way for a company to make money on a website is either to sell your data, or charge for the service.

      Yay.

      • MoodyRaincloud@feddit.nl
        4·
        1 year ago

        The pattern is always the same. No ads - ads - no ads if you pay - no ads if you pay but we sell your data - personalised ads because you pay, and we sell your data.

  • thefloweracidic@lemmy.world
    17·
    1 year ago

    I feel you, I’ve been using an ad blocker for so long I’ve lost count of the years. I’m always obliterated by how vapid and meaningless modern ads are, its all psychological hacking which is a violation of our mental sovereignty.

    I also feel like the “happy young people, living their best life with our product” style ads help keep people delusional about the current state of the world and where we are heading. Like that “Everything is fine” meme, but the dog has a vr headset on and sound cancelling headphones that constantly chant “The heat you are feeling is good for the economy. Everything IS fine!”.

    I agree, it is 100% dystopian.

      • chandz05@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 year ago

        I just recently watched that movie for the first time a month or so ago, and it was so jarring how accurate it was with the subliminal messaging

  • Reygle@lemmy.world
    15·
    1 year ago

    I stopped over at my parents’ house a few weeks back for a get-together and the TV was on. I nearly felt physically ill at the amount of ads- at one point I saw an overlay ad on top of an actual “commercial” ad. The program that was on was definitely less run time than the adverts that ran in-between short sections of the program.

  • _number8_@lemmy.world
    164·
    1 year ago

    yeah, i’ve been trying out different browsers and it’s so so bad. like, they’re pure garbage

    don draper era ads actually had fucking thought in there. people made art and worked on the typesetting. now it’s pure AI vomit garbage that means nothing to nobody, nobody along the entire chain of making this gave a single fuck about it, no one that’s ever seen the image has had a genuine feeling come from it other than disgust and doom.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
      7·
      1 year ago

      don draper era ads actually had fucking thought in there. people made art and worked on the typesetting.

      You’re seeing the past with rose-tinted glasses. Ads fucking sucked as well back in the day, and you’re only remembering the ones that are, well, memorable. And even that means that the fucking advertisers won; because you’re still thinking about those ads - and remember: ads are created specifically to get to your hard-earned money.

  • MonkderZweite@feddit.ch
    164·
    1 year ago

    but occasionally I have to use computers that don’t belong to me

    Do them a favor and install an adblocker.

    • airportline@lemmy.ml
      291·
      1 year ago

      Most people don’t appreciate it when you install software on their personal devices without their permission.

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceOP
      8·
      1 year ago

      I will occasionally suggest it if I am doing any kind of tech support but I don’t push it. Occasionally it can cause issues with webpages and if they aren’t savvy enough to have an ad blocker already I don’t know if they would have the knowledge of when to toggle it on and off.

  • Nonameuser678@aussie.zone
    10·
    1 year ago

    The person who was instrumental in the development of modern advertising was also involved in the notorious little Albert experiment. That really says a lot about how unethical modern advertising is on a psychological level. As a psych major myself I am constantly disgusted by how manipulative and toxic advertising is. It actually troubles me how we’ve essentially just accepted this as part of our society now.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Albert_experiment

    • redballooon@lemm.ee
      6·
      1 year ago

      “The aim of Watson and Rayner was to condition a phobia in an emotionally stable child.”

  • HipPriest@kbin.social
    10·
    1 year ago

    I use a VPN which has an excellent ad & bs blocker. But occasionally some sites need me to turn it off to pay for things or whatever and I forget to turn it back on and end up browsing the internet in its normal state.

    And wow… welcome to commerce central. It’s not that all the ads are obnoxious though some are, but the quantity of them is out of control on some websites.

    To be fair, I’ve found it’s a good rule of thumb that the quality of a website is usually proportionate to the less amount of ads they have.

    I also reviewed mobile games for a while and had to play without a VPN to get the same experience most players would get - game ads are the worst. Unrepresentative of the games they’re trying to sell, but also often sexist (veering towards misogynistic), obnoxious and with false endings.

  • YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca
    10·
    1 year ago

    I gave up trying to get my wife to use anything that blocks ads, and she won’t switch away chrome. When she bakes, she leaves her tablet or phone open, with multiple video ads destroying her battery. Seeing this thing just turns my brain to mush as I don’t see any ads. I don’t know how she puts up with having ten video ads on one page.