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And why not?

There are cases over the world where advertising was banned with success.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5338

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1125...

This is just the first step.

Random related question then; how do smaller companies and individuals starting out in business for the first time compete? Because as much as advertising and marketing can be sleazy in its execution, it's also potentially a way that smaller companies can compete with incumbents. Remove that, and what's left? Brand recognition and word of mouth. The former is great for multinational corporations, but kind of bad for anyone trying to dethrone them. The latter can be good for smaller companies and individuals, but can take decades to become effective.

Banning certain types of advertising is a good idea, but trying to ban all of it would kill competition.

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