Using google to search doesn't make me a "product". They just happen to be able to make a ton of money showing adverts, which are useful for me also.
Ignore advertising revenue at your own cost.
But OTOH, this is hackernews, so continue hating advertising lead business models as usual...
No one is ignoring advertising revenue, harvesting millions of users in order to bring in said advertising revenue is the problem.
Why is it a problem? So they show me a few adverts... big whoop. I can just ignore them.
The issue is, the vast majority of people will never pay for access to online websites/apps (Me included). If you restrict yourself to the business model "charge users", then you've just got rid of 99% of the online population.
Advertising means that everyone gets what they want (Apart from the very very small but overly vocal minority that don't like adverts or have privacy concerns).
Only if you block them. Advertising is not informative, it's coaxing you, and just because you don't consciously decide you're going to read an ad now doesn't mean you get to ignore it.
Walk down a city street. It's full of adverts for shops you might want to go in.
On the other hand, while you claim my previous statement was BS, I claim your statement displays denial.