An Advertising Armageddon

Advertising is really big business. For example in the UK, £23bn was spent on this activity in 2020. In many parts of the world, it is now virtually impossible to escape the advertisers (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/11/advertising-industry-fuelling-climate-disaster-consumption). The average US citizen is exposed to between 4000 and 10000 adverts each day. By the time a child is 13, ad-tech firms will have collected 72m data points on him/her. This is more than enough to turn any budding adult into a consumer target. Users of social media are bombarded with advertising. Many public spaces have become polluted by billboards. On some busy roads, advertisers deliberately position 'unmissable' digital screens. People on busy roads should, of course, be concentrating on their driving. Watch any major sports activity on TV and the flickering billboards around the playing surface, are constantly in the field of view. Viewing International soccer in Europe, exposes the audiencee to advertising from Gazprom, the state Russian energy company. Recent research even shows that some advertising permanently alters people's brains. For example, exposure to images of popular car brands, lodges in the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. The exposure changes the neural architecture. People have literally been brain washed (often, into buying an SUV?). All of this is, of course, is occurring at a time, when people need to consume less, to help counteract the climate crisis. Some UK cities and the Amsterdam underground have started to ban advertising by petrochemical companies and sellers of diesel cars. The whole advertising 'industry' needs, however, to be more carefully regulated(it's actually largely self-regulated). It's the wild west out there, with many people becoming 'addicted' to over-consumption. This is unhealthy for people and unhealthy for the planet.