Former advertising guy here. Let me talk about the nuance in between these stark ends of the spectrum. Ads, when designed well, show off your product's benefits in an effort to communicate to the relevant audience how it solves their needs or wants. That's what an ad school professor will tell you, and it's a principle that serves us well in actually making ads.

The internet, however, has shifted it from focusing on the relevant audience for the product to making the product fit the relevant audience. It's a fundamental distinction, and it's been brought on by the ability to target you with the content of an advertisement. Words, pictures, and placements are automatically adjusted to make you more likely to be interested in an ad. Say one of your ad profiles (and yes, you have ad profiles whether you know it or not) says you are a cat person. The banner ad you see for blanket will show a picture of a person with a cat. But, if it says you are a dog person, you'll get an image of puppy. If you're a single male who likes video games you're getting a busty chick under the blanket. If you're a "hopeless romantic" female you'll get a shot of a woman having her feet rubbed by her man. These subtle cues make it more likely the ad will get your specific attention.

Now, that on its own is not nefarious. But it toes the line of manipulation. Let's use the example of a plastic surgeon. Using algorithms, the advertiser can identify what your most concerning personal self-confidence issues are and use them to their advantage. If you're a woman who recently bought a smaller sized bra they can show off bigger breasts, talking about how full life can be. Or if you have recently started ordering medium panties instead of small they can advertise to you for thigh-based liposuction and "getting back to the small, sexy woman you know you are." And if you're a guy who has spent a lot of time researching how they do as few leg days as possible they'll hit you up with ads for calf implants, promising "during shorts season you'll turn heads in awe." It becomes pure manipulation on a hyper-specific level.

And that's why there is a push by a lot of us to stay outside of the advertisement bubble as best we can. I don't mind ads. Hell, I've been behind some very successful ones. But I do mind when they are invasive or manipulative, and so I use adblock and ghostery and a few other ways to avoid being tracked as best I can. I also don't like it when I am advertised to when it's in something I pay for. Charging a premium means providing a premium experience, and ads take away from that.

I do think advertising can be a good thing. It is essential our economy producers be able to reach their consumer. But it needs to be on the merits of the product, not an invasion of the audience.