People dislike pervasive advertising because it becomes clear that you are a pawn in the game. This grates, consciously or subconsciously. The dissonant suspicion that you&#x27;re a bit-player in a game from which you derive no benefit (while others gain massively) underpins sentiment in a number of recent threads: the role of universities [1], the influence of money on research [2], motor vehicle emissions [3].<p>We don&#x27;t like being played for fools, and some of us feel that pervasive advertising does exactly that.<p>But what of the &quot;benefits&quot; of advertising? Free access to content, for instance.<p>Well that&#x27;s only &quot;free as in beer&quot;. Ad-funded content on the internet, or in print, confuses &quot;free as in beer&quot; with &quot;free as in speech&quot;. It assumes that if I can get something for free, then I&#x27;m happy to exchange it for something else; that I&#x27;m happy to accept content in exchange for my attention being drawn to goods and services that want my money.<p>Personally, I&#x27;m not happy with that. I never opted-in, and I can&#x27;t (easily) opt out.<p>Billboard advertising is irritating because of exactly this reason: no opt out.<p>People who disagree (or simply don&#x27;t sympathise) with my sentiments probably feel happy to exchange their liberty for advertising. Fair enough -- I don&#x27;t wish to persuade or disuade. I would, however, like the capacity to make my own choice.<p>People who think we do have a choice -- it&#x27;s very, very limited. It seems that every square inch of publicly-visible surface in major cities could be scooped up by advertisers. Risers on staircases; LED billboards on top of taxis; it&#x27;s getting ridiculous.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10372181" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10372181</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10372446" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10372446</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10354127" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10354127</a>