Fight Advertising!

Introduction / Dogma

Advertising, in all its insidious forms, is invading our lives in many ways, from website banners to direct marketing (by mail and phone) to logos on student ID cards and public library cards. When is that last time you saw whitespace? Even the floor of your local grocery store has been converted into a billboard. Now, advertisers will tell you that you benefit, not only from the "information" that they provide, but from the various events and services that are funded by advertising and that you enjoy "free". Well, as everyone knows, nothing is free, ever. We're all paying constantly, in two ways:

• First and foremost, we're paying with our souls. All day, every day, we are bombarded with advertising, and advertising has a single, openly stated goal: manipulation of consumers' thinking. Modern advertising is no different, in principle, from the propaganda campaigns led by international criminals such as Joseph Goebbels, Henry Kissinger, and Donald Rumsfeld. Just as we are manipulated by our own government, we are manipulated by immensely powerful transnational corporations that report to noone but their shareholders and want nothing but your money.
• Second, we're paying with real money. Why do Nike products cost so much? Because every time you buy a product with that distinctive "Swoosh", you're paying the salaries of countless advertising and marketing executives, not to mention Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Without advertising, products would be CHEAPER.

Pay for what you use

Now, are there alternatives to the current state of affairs? I suggest one: PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE.

• Do not watch commercial-supported "free" broadcast television; watch public television, local access channels, or even HBO, and pay your fair share.
• Do not listen to commercial-supported radio; listen to local, listener-supported stations, and contribute your hard-earned money.
• Do not accept special deals at the grocery store by exchanging your market profile through the use of the "club card"; use no club card at all or, better yet, shop at a local, independent store or co-op.

Direct action

How else can we fight the advertising trend? We must make the advertising itself unprofitable. Here are a couple of ways that work:

• Use ad-filtering software when you browse the Web. Personally, I use the Internet Junkbuster. It's free, open source, and works very well. Not only does it save you from seeing all those banner ads, but it deprives the website operators of ad-related revenue. With any luck, if enough people use software like this, we can fundamentally change the business model of the Internet. When advertising no longer brings in the consumers, the advertisers will stop.

• Write to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) . The DMA is a large national clearinghouse for the compilation, distribution, and sale of lists used by companies that "direct market", sending unsolicited junk mail to your house, and calling you on the phone. The DMA is required by federal law to provide a method for consumers to "opt out" of all the lists over which they have control. you can do this very easily:
  • To avoid junk mail:
    Write and sign a letter with your name, address, and telephone #, stating that you wish to be removed from the DMA's lists. send it to:
    Direct Marketing Association
    
    Mail Preference Service
    
    P.O. Box 9008
    
    Farmingdale NY 11735-9008
    

    To avoid telemarketers:
    Write and sign a letter with your name, address, and telephone #, stating that you wish to be removed from the DMA's lists. send it to:

    Direct Marketing Association
    

    Telephone Preference Service
    

    P.O. Box 9014
    

    Farmingdale NY 11735-9014
    

  This won't get rid of all junk mail or phone calls, but it helps a lot.

• Respond to the junk mail with a form letter of your own, demanding that you be removed from their lists. Every time that I receive a credit card offer or magazine subscription offer, or anything else that includes a postage-paid Business Reply Envelope, I put my own form letter in the envelope and send it back. This action has a dual benefit: I am communicating to the marketers that I won't take their abuse and I am costing them money, because they pay for every Business Reply Envelope that is actually mailed. The only way to stop marketing is to make it unprofitable.

  My letter is available below in several formats:

  • Postscript
  • PDF
  • LaTeX
  Feel free to use it verbatim, or just as a starting point for your own letter. Keep a stack of 20 or so of these at home, and put one in every reply envelope; it's fun!