The idea feels like sci-fi because you’re so used to it, imagining ads gone feels like asking to outlaw gravity. But humanity had been free of current forms of advertising for 99.9% of its existence. Word-of-mouth and community networks worked just fine. First-party websites and online communities would now improve on that.
The traditional argument pro-advertising—that it provides consumers with necessary information—hasn’t been valid for decades.
Advertising is propaganda, propaganda should be illegal
It won’t be though, because it is too powerful to control us
Somewhere along the line I read a scifi book where “truth in advertising” laws were used to convict advertisers so they could be put in jail and used as involuntary organ donors. And I am sad to say I wouldn’t feel very sorry if that were a real thing. My hate for manipulative ads is so strong it overrides my hate for killing.