ads are everywhere. your attention matters

a place for me to post about the intensifying bombardment of ads everywhere and a way for me to feel less insane

[maidslime]

Ok like. Imagine life without ads. You wake up, check your messages across a variety of apps, no ads. You get up and put on the tv while you prep your breakfast, no ads. Maybe you drive somewhere and switch on the radio, no ads. Maybe you drive a long distance, yet somehow, not a single billboard on your path. You pick up a newspaper or magazine to pass the time, no advertisements only articles. You turn on your game console, the home screen is just about your games, no ads to buy more. You open a streaming app, you don't pay extra for no ads, there's just no ads ever.

Think about how much of your time is spent looking at ads. "Download ublock" yeah I know, I have. But that doesn't change that the world is covered with endless advertising. Imagine never seeing that again. How much better our lives would be.

[wyf-of-bathe]

So, I'm pretty militant about ad blockers. I will pay money to a good ad blocker rather than deal with seeing any ads. As a result, I have largely been able to duck a lot- definitely not all, but a lot- of ads that have sprung up with AI.

Well, I had to jump onto YouTube mobile for one second and uh.

What the FUCK is that??

[adsinvasion]

Gas pump adscreens

Allows ads to be served to people pumping their gas. There is sometimes a way to mute them, but it isnt marked, and not all machines allow you to mute and you MUST listen to the ads.

let's look at GSTV:

this source on MidOcean's website announces the acquisition of GSTV in 2025:

Founded in 2005, GSTV engages over 115 million monthly high-intent viewers at fuel and convenience retail locations, delivering targeted, full-sound video advertising to consumers at a key moment on their path to purchase.

Marshall Phelps, Managing Director at MidOcean: “Brands are increasingly seeking measurable, high-impact ways to engage consumers near the point of purchase, and GSTV’s national scale and ability to deliver contextually relevant content in real time delivers proven results."

now let's take a look at the pump manufacturer (seen at the very bottom of the picture), Gilbarco Veeder-root.

According to their website, I believe the dispenser in the picture is the model "Encore 700S with FlexPay 6 OPTs".

"consumer engagement", advertising, is a primary concern in the manufacturing of these dispensers.

You will notice on some of these machines unmarked black buttons on either side of the screen -- maybe a couple years ago you could mute the ads using the second from top button on the right. but most of these machines have now removed the mute feature.

your attention matters. observe and think critically. to advertisers, your attention is their money.

[adsinvasion]

Operating System Ads

Ex. Smart TVs, Windows

Ad space that is built into the operating system and user interface. this is the home screen for a firetv, Roku is similar.

In this case, the user is idle and the screen is turned on but isnt broadcasting any media; it's unacceptable to have a screen open to a room and not serve ads on it if possible. This is also why we're now getting ads on PAUSE screens.

start noticing the ads in places in places they didnt used to be

[adsinvasion]

"perks" ads

if you pay for a service and it gives you "perks" that are a boatload of random things to buy from other companies at a certain discount, those are ads.

Prime example is basic tier planet fitness, a paid membership which serves you ads on the home screen of the app needed to check in to the club. These "perks"/ads will also appear on in-house TVs in the club. Another example is credit card perks which function the same way.

start noticing how often you are advertised to

[loremerchant]

Make content that goes viral and you can experience brands using your work as a platform to advertise from.

[chinchillacrossing]

Loads of people on tiktok think the rapture is happening like in a few days lol. It's so weird visiting that weird world for a bit. Garnier commented on one of the videos. Bring back bullying brands online. That's not happening as much as it should

[adsinvasion]

push notification ads

at least for now, we have some limited control of disabling certain categories of push notification.

start noticing how often you are being advertised to

[adsinvasion]

in-app donation ads

this kind is new to me - the choice to use it to sell donations to the corporate charity makes me suspicious its testing the waters for more invasive uses

start noticing how often you are being advertised to

[adsinvasion]

google maps ads

puzzled by Kroger subheading as "9g Protein. Zero Sugar". clicking brings up the listing:

start noticing how often you are being advertised to