merc, rok temu

How do you define “advertising”?

Is it advertising if a community government makes citizens aware that bus service will be changing?

Is it advertising to tell people that there’s a suicide hotline available if they need help?

Is it advertising to encourage people to volunteer for a local festival?

What about telling people that the festival exists using a poster? Is that an ad? Does it depend if the festival is free or non-profit?

Advertising is just fundamentally about bringing people’s attention to something. The spectrum can range from a municipal government “advertising” its monthly meeting so that local people can participate in their local democracy, to spam emails hyping a pump-and-dump cryptocurrency.

Different people will have different ideas where the cut-off should be. The extreme libertarians will say that nothing should be banned. Others will say that it’s ok to ban ads for alcohol and cigarettes but not for makeup or coffee. Even totalitarian states and supposedly communist states where one entity controls all companies have ads. Some of the most striking ads ever made were for Mussolini.

So, the question really isn’t about banning ads, it’s just where to draw the line.