>> Not to mention the ads keep following you after you buy the thing
If you don't want irrelevant ads for items you already purchased following you around, then you want better targeting.
I think many people just don't like ads at all. If I had to live with ads, I'd prefer to have relevant ads, but that's just me.
While some advertisements can alert you to a product that will be helpful, many have the psychological intent of producing dissatisfaction and are an attempt to compel you to purchase something you do not need and your life probably would be better off without. Advertising is deliberately about producing discontent and it makes people more unhappy and more dissatisfied with their lives.
I would rather see ads that I can immediately dismiss than have ones that make me start desiring that which I don't really need.
That's fine but I don't think there is an alternative business model that doesn't rely on advertising to feed the current demand of entertainment. I hope I'm wrong and people like you who find advertising distasteful can have access to the wealths of society with some alternative form of funding
There's no need for 'targeted' ads that follow me around if the ads are in the places I expect when looking for something.
Content providers should be ensuring they display quality and relevant ads, not relying on 'other' services to come find the consumer.
The same way they do in television, radio, film and every other medium?
Not really. Targeted marketing is about particularly narrow conceptions of quality and relevance. IMHO, the logic of targeting and tracking has severely twisted the meaning of those terms in marketer's minds.
I do very much mind ads that stick a massive zombie in my face when i happen to be browsing a url listing that may hold something about games.