It does not help the economy to distract consumers all day as much as possible, all it does is let companies compete on the basis of who can spend the most on advertising or who can hire the most manipulative advertisers rather than who can make the best product.

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Everyone thinks, "But advertising doesn't work on me." That's why it's still legal.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Advertising works on everyone. Just there are those of us that don't impuls buy and look into and research the interesting product they just seen an ad for, before buying. But billboards those annoy the shit out of me. Like I know McDonald's exists and there is a 70% chance there is one at the next exit, why do I need 4 billboards telling my there is a McDonald's coming up in 5 exits?

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 9 points 1 year ago

Those billboards aren't for you, they're to remind the kids in the back that McDonald's exists.

[–] JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because an alarming amount of drivers are doing any number of things besides looking out of the windshield and probably missed 3/4 of them.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And this is why there’s a row of billboards advertising a sex store near me. I think there’s like 10 of them, and there’s always at least one with an anti-porn Jesus message in the mix. It’s kinda glorious.

But billboards should be banned. They are a distraction, they ruin otherwise pleasant scenery, and we just don’t need the ads. We get enough ads, damn.

[–] Zippy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I agree but it is a tough one to police. If your business is next to a road, can you advertise from there? What signage you allowed to put up? Only your own? What if you have two business on the same property? Both get a sign? What if you sell McDonalds a 5% stake in your land?

But they are an eyesore. Hate them.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not really that tough to police, they just need to put more robust and consistent regulations in place. There are already many regulations on building signage, and if billboards would be banned they would need to fully define what was banned so.. I don’t see this actually being that much of a problem.

For example, specifically the accessory vs advertising section: https://www.signsny.com/blog/nyc-signs-rules-and-regulations