ADVERTISING LIMITS

“The popular philosophy of life has ceased to be based on the classics of devotion and the rules of aristocratic good breeding, and is now moulded by the writers of advertising copy, whose one idea is to persuade everybody to be as extraverted and uninhibitedly greedy as possible, since of course it is only the possessive, the restless, the distracted, who spend money on the things advertisers want to sell.” — Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

At its core, advertising isn’t inherently evil. The ancient Romans had billboards. The town crier was basically a walking pop-up ad. But today’s advertising is less about sharing information and more about colonizing consciousness. The average person sees between 6,000 to 10,000 ads per day, according to research by marketing analytics firm Yankelovich. That’s not a typo. Your brain is a battleground, and the enemy isn’t just after your wallet—it’s after your attention, your desires, even your sense of self.

The problem isn’t just quantity; it’s strategy. Modern advertising leverages neuroscience to bypass rational thought and tap directly into emotional triggers. As Naomi Klein exposes in No Logo, brands aren’t selling products—they’re selling identities. You’re not buying shoes; you’re buying status. You’re not drinking soda; you’re consuming a lifestyle. This isn’t persuasion; it’s psychological engineering.

Edward Bernays, the so-called father of public relations and author of Propaganda, applied psychoanalytic theory to manipulate public opinion. He famously turned cigarettes into symbols of female empowerment in the 1920s, branding them “torches of freedom.” The result? Increased sales—and lung cancer rates. Advertising not only sells, but shapes culture, values, and behavior.

The consequences are profound. Advertising fuels consumerism, which in turn drives environmental degradation. The more we’re convinced we need the latest gadget, the faster we deplete resources and generate waste. Fast fashion, for example, isn’t just an aesthetic trend; it’s an ecological nightmare, responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions and massive water pollution, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

But advertising doesn’t just clutter landfills; it clutters minds. Studies in The Journal of Consumer Research show that exposure to materialistic messaging correlates with decreased well-being, increased anxiety, and lower life satisfaction. The constant drumbeat of “not enough”—not thin enough, rich enough, cool enough—creates a culture of perpetual dissatisfaction. As Erich Fromm wrote in To Have or To Be?, we’ve shifted from defining ourselves by what we are to what we own, with devastating psychological effects.

When every moment of daily life is saturated with messages telling us what to desire, how to look, and who to be, advertising ceases to be just a tool of persuasion—it becomes an invisible ideology. This ideology tells us that happiness comes from accumulation, that problems can always be solved with a purchase, and that personal worth is measured in consumption. Over time, this corrodes deeper, intrinsic values such as creativity, community, and self-reflection, replacing them with a manufactured sense of identity tied to brands and products. In this way, advertising doesn’t just sell things; it sells ways of thinking, conditioning entire populations to equate fulfillment with endless consumption.

Children are especially vulnerable. According to the American Psychological Association, kids under the age of eight lack the cognitive capacity to understand persuasive intent, making them easy targets. Advertisers know this, which is why they spend billions on campaigns designed to embed brand loyalty before a child can even spell “manipulation.” The result? Increased rates of childhood obesity, early-onset materialism, and screen addiction.

Even democracy isn’t safe. Political advertising turns civic engagement into a marketing contest, where the candidate with the most money—or the darkest attack ads—often wins. Social media has turbocharged this problem, with algorithms designed to maximize engagement (and thus ad revenue) by amplifying outrage and division. As Shoshana Zuboff details in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, we’re not the consumers in this system; we’re the product.

Advertising also warps public priorities. Billions are spent convincing people to crave the latest gadget, the newest fashion, or the next processed food product, while issues of real consequence—climate change, systemic inequality, mental health—receive only passing attention. The financial structure of media exacerbates this distortion. News organizations, reliant on ad revenue, have little incentive to challenge the corporations funding them. The result is a world where trivial distractions dominate headlines while the crises that threaten our collective future remain underreported.

The solution isn’t to fight advertising with more noise or moral panic. It’s to create conditions where manipulative persuasion withers from lack of fertile ground. Rather than waging war on ads, we can design environments where simplicity, mindfulness, and intrinsic values naturally flourish, making manipulative messaging irrelevant.

Consider São Paulo, Brazil, which in 2007 banned outdoor advertising entirely. The result wasn’t economic collapse but a striking transformation: the city’s architecture, previously hidden behind billboards, reemerged. Public spaces felt calmer. People noticed each other instead of logos. Or Sweden’s strict regulations on marketing to children, which prioritize child development over corporate profits. These are acts of restoration—clearing mental clutter so clarity can emerge.

By reclaiming public spaces, digital platforms, and airwaves from commercial interests, societies can begin to shift focus from the manufactured urgency of the marketplace to the deeper, more meaningful questions of human existence.

Therefore, under Folklaw:

Advertising shall be regulated to prevent psychological manipulation and protect public well-being. All commercial advertising targeting children under 12 will be prohibited. Public spaces, including streets, parks, and transportation systems, will be free from commercial advertising. Digital platforms must provide ad-free versions as a standard option, with manipulative data-driven targeting banned.

Political advertising will be limited to publicly funded platforms to ensure equal access and reduce the influence of money on democracy. Transparency laws will require clear labeling of all sponsored content, with severe penalties for deceptive practices.