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Comment by landhar | Hacker News Reader

I think such an argument is reasonable. It does seem that putting restrictions on advertising cigarettes has contributed greatly to reduce the perception that smoking is badass.

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There are also ads that make it appear that if I use a certain brand of deodorant then hot women will instantly flock to me. Should that be illegal too?

So, just to understand your position, is your claim that the government should play no role in regulating the messages corporations deliver to the public?

Do you feel it strengthens your argument to pivot to attacking a position you put in your opponent's mouth?

Well, I think I understand the point you're trying to make. And I agree that drawing a line on what is and what is not acceptable embellishment to promote a product is probably impossible to do in a way that is absolute.

But I believe that it should be possible to come up with a set of mandatory guidelines that would ultimately help consumers make more informed decisions when selecting a product. And I think this is a pretty reasonable thing to say, since so many governments enforce already some form of legislation to fight against deceptive advertising [0]. Actually, advertising of the very industry being discussed in this thread (gambling) is already being regulated by many countries [1], so I would be interested in hearing more about why you think this shouldn't be the case.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_advertising

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