I don't understand this attitude. Do you like being advertised to? I don't. I find advertising repugnant, and I'd much rather see ads that are irrelevant to me because they're easier to ignore and I'm less likely to be affected by them.
With targeted ads I'm at risk of being influenced. I don't want to be influenced by ads.
You can't do business without advertising. Are you for shutting down small and medium businesses? If you are employed find out how your company gets clients and acquires customers. It is mostly through advertising. And if they don't, the clients they depend on for orders do. It is a chain and if that chain gets disrupted everyone suffers. I don't understand why anyone would find the concept of advertising repugnant! Sure there are horrible ads and then there are scammy ways of advertising. Those should be regulated. But to put the entire advertising landscape under the bus is totally not acceptable!
> I'd much rather see ads that are irrelevant to me because they're easier to ignore and I'm less likely to be affected by them
I bet majority of the people find ads that are not relevant repugnant. I hate it when I am recommended an ad that I have no interest in, over and over again. To the point where I turn off whatever I am reading/watching. Why would I sit through watching an ad for 15 seconds that is irrelevant to me?
> I don't want to be influenced by ads.
Use adblock.
I foolishly believed that. I gave Google every chance under the sun: clicked not interested, verified my ad preferences, waited another month etc.
For over 10 years they have showed me ads for scammy dating sites!
Someone will typically come to their defense and say basically: Google know what they are doing.
They do not!
They refuse to understand that a father of more than three kids - all with the same mother - isn't interested in scammy dating sites.
Well, maybe on average it works?
Well maybe on average I get so fed up I start to inform scammy dating sites that they are getting ripped off. The volume seems to have decreased lately, but I mostly use an adblocker so what do I know ;-)
So for anyone who pays Google for views: be aware that their targetting is painfully bad, their feedback systems so broken that they seemingly cannot take a clue if it came gift wrapped and so big it needs a truck for delivery. Keep an eye on the metrics guys and gals.
It still makes sense economically for many companies but be very critical, because Google is not.
Edit: to rub it in: Facebook manages to personalize ads! Again and again I get ads that are relevant and interesting. I've even bought through Instagram ads. Which is a shame since I dislike Facebook even more intensely than Google and only keep an Instagram profile to keep my lovely wife happy. I deliberately keep my contact with Facebook small and yet they seem to know exactly what I am interested in and what not.
I notice I got carried away yesterday:
I did not inform them one by one, but rather by publically writing about it, at least here on HN.