Modern advertising was invented by Edward Bernays in his book 'Propaganda'. It is literally and specifically designed to manipulate beliefs and behaviour. Broadcast TV was created as content to package advertising, not the other way around. The social impact of advertising is enormous - primarily in reenforcing the helplessness and delusion of inevitably around disengaged consumer capitalism that Mark Fisher referred to as Capitalist Realism. It's pure, constant, unending manipulation - in public spaces, in private spaces embedded in in every drop of media in both explicit and disguised forms. It negates our ability to trust one another and what we see and read. It makes the worst and least democratic aspects of modernity seem eternal and unchangeable. It creates awful incentives and enforces disingenuousness. Advertising is a psychic poison.

> had ads and belive it or not people survived.

> You know nothing about psychological warfare if you think ads

... cause everyone to die.

Ads shape opinions. Why do political parties spend so much on them? Carefully curated ads can control you on subtle levels. Read the Propaganda book that another reply cited and also read Elul’s. Also read the works or experiments by B.F Skinner and then Kaheneman. You’ll notice this golden thread that ultimately culminates in “mind control” today via algorithmic shaping for content curation and advertisement. It’s why people who are terminally online are often ideological extremists and generally mentally unhealthy.

Please make your substantive points without crossing into personal attack. That only makes everything worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html