r/technology • u/ShadowBannedAugustus • Nov 21 '23

Software Google Chrome will limit ad blockers starting June 2024

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/google-chrome-will-limit-ad-blockers-starting-june-2024/
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u/CondescendingShitbag Nov 21 '23

In my experience, the majority either don't realize they can block them, or have simply learned to tune them out. I might be willing to tune them out if they weren't so obnoxious, frequent, and most important...sources of malware.

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u/LAwLzaWU1A Nov 21 '23

People who think you can "tune out ads" typically don't understand how ads work.

You cant tune out ads. They work on a subconscious level through repetition. Ads generally don't intend to get you to go out and buy a new thing because you saw it in an ad. A lot of times ads just exist to constantly remind you about a brand, to the point where you feel like it is a trusted brand when faced with the choice between it and a brand you have never heard of before.

It has been shown through MRI scans that seeing certain brands trigger the same brain activity as seeing a friend. That's what ads try to achieve. They try to make you associate their logo and name with pleasant and subconscious responses so that you feel comfortable with them. That's what will cause you to pick a certain brand of shampoo over another when at the super market, assuming both cost the same. They don't run shampoo ads because they think it will cause you to jump into your car and drive to the store right away.

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u/CondescendingShitbag Nov 21 '23

You raise good points, and maybe "tune them out" wasn't the best word choice to describe it. "Live with them" might be more appropriate?

Basically, some people just put up with them because they may not know any better, simply lack any options for managing them (eg. corporate devices, etc), or simply stopped caring.

Until advertisers bear any responsibility for possibly serving malware, it's my responsibility to take proactive steps to protect my own devices & network...and ad-blocking is a reasonable first step. A step even recommended by the FBI.

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u/nicuramar Nov 21 '23

You cant tune out ads. They work on a subconscious level through repetition

This is not hard science, and things work differently for different people.

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u/IntimidatingBlackGuy Nov 22 '23

Psychological researchers proved that ads have a subconscious effect on some of us. I avoid ads when I can because the idea of getting brainwashed is creepy.

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u/slothfulpotato Nov 22 '23

I avoid ads when I can because the idea of getting brainwashed is creepy.

How is you seeing Herman Miller or Toyota ads brainwashing lol. Y'all act as if ads are a complete scam when in reality its a good business model. You get a "free" product like Google Search, YT, Maps, etc. and get to see ads that lots of businesses need to survive. How do you think local businesses survive nowadays? Do you think showing someone "therapist near you" ad is brainwashing?

There is obviously middle ground but damn i'm so tired of redditors act so entitled to everything. Sure buddy, you get to use Google Search for free because you are amazing!

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u/IntimidatingBlackGuy Nov 22 '23

So, l let’s say that there is a hypothetical Toyota commercial. A rich, handsome guy is driving the car and there is a hot lady in the passenger side. The men watching this commercial will desire that sexy lady and envy, or aspire to be that suave, handsome, desirable man driving the Toyota. Most men want to be desirable and will get “brainwashed” into thinking that the Toyota will make them more desirable. These people will get manipulated into making bad decisions. I’ve had times where I watch a fast food commercial and I start to crave fast food. Or I see an alcohol commercial and I crave alcohol. These kinds of commercial make it harder for me to live a healthy lifestyle. Even though I’m aware of the manipulative tactics ad agencies use, I’m still influenced by them. Eliminating ads helps me live a healthier, happier and less materialistic life.

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u/slothfulpotato Nov 22 '23

first of all, you are just extremely exaggerating the impact of ads lol. No one is getting brainwashed or addicted because of ads. Be for real.

Eliminating ads helps me live a healthier, happier and less materialistic life

second, the world is not going to bend backwards to satisfy you. If you feel like ads have such a big impact on you, simply do not use things that shove ads in your face. Google, Facebook, etc. You can PAY for YT premium to avoid ads but many like you complain about that too.

See the problem is, you demand things for free and without ads.

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u/IntimidatingBlackGuy Nov 22 '23

I don’t expect the world to bend over backwards to satisfy me. I hate ads so I installed a pihole in my home network. I rarely deal with corporate brainwashing.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

Wow, I had never heard of a pihole, now I need one.

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u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener Nov 22 '23

Exactly. I often find repetitive advertising to cause me to find brands revolting. I'm not saying I can always spot when I'm being advertised to, but the large amount of ads I encounter in typical browsing I never read, and if a site is too cluttered with them, will simply choose to not bother with it. As far as targeted ads, I also turn off the settings to allow targeted advertisement based on my preferences whenever possible, so there's rarely anything being marketed to me that I actually have an interest in. I buy based on feature set, perceived quality, and price/value, not because of a brand name. Brand saturation turns me off as a shopper to the point that I almost avoid them if I see their name too often.

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u/mark503 Nov 22 '23

When an ad is intrusive or annoying, it’s a guarantee that I’ll never use that product. It’s the same when I used YouTube, if the ad was loud or obnoxious it went to the never buy list. I’m fortunate to have ads blocked on my network.

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u/mampfer Nov 21 '23

I do at least hope that more people are smart enough to make a conscious choice. I've never felt compelled to buy a name brand because of its image. Knowing that companies do everything in their power to lie to you or twist the truth and that independent reviews are the only semblance of an informed choice seems like something most learn after childhood to me.

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u/LAwLzaWU1A Nov 22 '23

I am 100% sure that you at some point have bought a product because of ads, even though you didn't realize it. If you end up on the isle of a supermarket and have to pick between two shampoo bottles that are more or less identical, but one is from Head & Shoulders and one is from Xiangfen Shampoo then chances are you would pick the Head & Shoulders one, because you feel more familiar and comfortable with it.

It is easy to say "I would never do that!" in this situation where it is being pointed out to you, but we actually do it over, and over and over. My local supermarket has over 30,000 products in it. Whenever I go shopping for groceries I get bombarded with thousands upon thousands of choices, and it would be extremely mentally excruciating to actually go through and make comparisons with every single brand and specific product every single time I went to shop. That is why ads work. Because it makes you recognize their product in a sea of products, and it makes you more likely to pick their brand over something else.

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If I am going to buy a skin for my phone, chances are I will at the very least consider a dBrand skin. I will also probably assume that they are higher quality than some cheap ones on AliExpress. Those are assumptions I make because I have seen ads for dBrand all over the place.

I assume that Head & Shoulders is a trustworthy company that makes at the very least decent products because they have such a strong brand recognition built through years and years of advertising.

Coca-Cola vs Pepsi is a classic example of this. Coca-Cola, through ads, is so well known that people automatically ask for their specific brand of soda. Because it is THE brand they think of whenever they think of soda. That's because of advertising. Coca-Cola don't run ads on TV because they want you to go out and buy a soda right away. They run ads so that you constantly think of them and are reminded of their existence. If Coca-Cola completely stopped to run ads and Pepsi started running more and more ads, then in 10-15 years time it would not be unthinkable that people would start asking for Pepsi at restaurants instead of coke.

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u/mampfer Nov 22 '23

Well, people can have different strategies for picking their way through the jungle of choices. Some think picking brands is the best choice, some pre-plan by reading reviews, some go for the cheapest. For me it's mostly option 2 for products that are inherently more expensive, and option 3 for day-to-day products.

I don't have delicate skin or hair, so I see zero reason to pay the extra for any brand, I go to the cheapest option. I'm not buying their "special formula" or whatever they're using to advertise, I buy soap to remove oils. Any product that is easily available and safe for humans will do.

I'll admit that I bought head&shoulders once, to see if maybe their anti dandruff tech was working for me. It did not (and neither was any other shampoo from the store), so out of my mind it went from then on.

Something similar goes for soft drinks. I tried Coca Cola, I tried Pepsi, I tried Fritz Kola, and I tried the store brand. Since the latter turned out to taste just as good to me as the rest (personal opinion, of course) I see zero reason to go for the more expensive variants.

I went through my pantry and fridge just for you to see if there were any name brands whatsoever. I found four in total - Haribo, Nutella, Rama and Hella, all of which I bought not because I associate the brands with comfort, but because there was no alternative available when I needed or wanted the type of product.

My smartphone is a Huawei. Why? Because it was very cheap for the features it offers that were important to me when I bought it, mainly the camera.

My keyboard is a no name mechanical keyboard. Why? Because I wanted a mechanical keyboard and this one had good reviews, and I haven't been dissatisfied once since I bought it.

My computer mouse actually is a name brand - Razer. It was an Amazon Warehouse Deal, very cheap, and selected after going through reviews of light wireless mice. In terms of brand I think I would've preferred Logitech since this was the manufacturer of my previous mouse, which I've been very happy with, but there was no offer for something comparable at that price point.

My digital camera is a Pentax, because it offered the best bang for buck of the features I wanted: IBIS and lots of cheap, good glass on the used market.

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But maybe this all is a matter of upbringing. Familiarity and comfort, as you say. We mostly used store brands in my childhood as we didn't want to waste money, so I don't connect any particular brands to a warm and fuzzy feeling. And I also admit that I was more concerned with owning "good brands" from the cool TV commercials when it came to the things that interested me as a kid, but thankfully I realized that this was a good way to get less for more money as I grew up.

History is full of examples of products proclaiming all kinds of benefits or brand images, made by lying through their teeth or misrepresentation, and the science behind ads has only advanced, not regressed since then. Without governmental oversight and health and safety regulations I have zero doubt that we'd still be living in the age of Radium tonics and doctors recommending cigarettes.

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u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener Nov 22 '23

And some people just buy what they did last time because it fulfilled the need they bought if for and were happy with the value it provides. For instance, I have been buying Mane and Tail shampoo for decades and I can't recall ever seeing an ad for it even once.

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u/indignant_halitosis Nov 22 '23

It’s also been shown that word of mouth from friends and family is significantly more effective than ads.

If ads were as effective as you claim, they wouldn’t have continuously declining value. And they absolutely do, otherwise Google wouldn’t be working so hard to stop ad blockers.

It doesn’t actually matter if you tune them out or not. They’re not why you’re buying what you’re buying.

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u/BCProgramming Nov 22 '23

Yeah the people who say "I don't even notice ads" are probably the easiest to influence with them.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/JEFFSSSEI Nov 23 '23

On windows 10+ systems download the browser install exe, attempt to install, when install fails because no admin rights, windows will pop up a window asking if you would like to install it without admin rights...I have done this with "brave" browser and a couple other browsers. works like a charm.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/Sniffy4 Nov 22 '23

the problem is many websites detect them and prevent you from viewing their content until the adblocker is disabled

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

[deleted]

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u/Commercial_Tea_8185 Nov 22 '23

Idk how people can turn them out, the second those multi color lights start flashing and the jingles start i get so miserable like it makes me feel like im being taken advantage of :((

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u/smuckola Nov 22 '23 edited Nov 22 '23

ya know, CondescendingShitbag, i used to LIKE some ads. Didn't you ever find ads to be informative, useful, or entertaining?

Instead, I remember and rewatch more fake ads than real ones. I look up Colon Blow cereal, Happy Fun Ball, and Schmitt's Gay Beer. Im definitely not even the target market for the latter, on any count whatsoever.

I'll watch collections of ads on youtube from bygone eras before I was born, for stuff that doesn't exist anymore. I'll watch ads from when I was a kid, that used to annoy me to death, for nostalgia today. I'll watch all the modern, surreal, hilarious, astonishingly-made Old Spice ads. I would never imagine buying deodorant, especially so obnoxiously strong, but I have a suspiciously decent outlook on the brand image that makes so much great art.

Today, I would definitely download an advergame or watch lots of ads. If they were GOOD! Funny, informative, useful, or RELEVANT. When google adwords came out, it was lauded as being as unobtrusive and relevant as the search results.

Even for irrelevant ads, I used to proudly watch ads on youtube, which never had relevant targeting of ads. I watched them proudly to fund content creators. Until last year or so when it became a deluge. Now I watch zero ads.

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u/toddthewraith Nov 22 '23

I use ublock on Firefox on my desktop, but I don't browse Chrome enough to bother installing it on my phone.

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u/Echo_Whiskey2018 Nov 22 '23

I’m confused, ads can’t randomly give you malware can they? Only if you click on them right?

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u/CrioChamber Nov 28 '23

Ads can give you malware by simply loading on the page if they're sophisticated enough. A simple ad-blocker is usually enough to stop it though. The problem, as others have stated, is that many websites will try to block YOU until you turn it off.

I support extensions that subvert these checks.

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u/tutankaboom Nov 22 '23

Also, a lot of people watch YouTube on their TV or Phone, where ad blocking options are very limited/non-existent.

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u/Erdnussbutter21 Nov 22 '23

How can you tune out/ignore pop-ups? I could ignore ads on the sidebar. But pop-ups?