With advertisements plastered everywhere, from the sides of school buses to the insides of fortune cookies, it seems that nowhere is safe from being used as a selling opportunity.
But for one person, being accosted with an advertisement while they were pumping gas was the ad that broke the camel's back.
They posted a photo on the subreddit r/Anticonsumption of the offending gas station pump, where a screen was flashing an advertisement for Bank of America. It said: "What would you like the power to do?"
It's a question that one commenter answered simply: "Get rid of these ads."
Other commenters were similarly outraged.
"This is truly dystopian," one vented. "I understand having to watch ads when you use a free service because they need to pay the bills somehow, but you're already paying for the gas! This is just greedy."
Another called it "rage-inducing," saying, "I can't put up with ads, period."
Some had seen this particular type of advertising before.
"The station near me slowed the pumps so you have to watch ads for longer," one person vented. The original poster responded with disgust, calling it an "evil" thing for corporations to do.
The average American is exposed to approximately 5,000 advertisements per day, per the University of Southern California. But while most people accept this as a fact of life, others are pushing back, arguing that not only is so much advertising harmful to mental health, but it promotes a dangerous way of living.
The constant encouragement of consumption, and the mindset that more and newer possessions are always better, has resulted in a staggering amount of waste being generated each year.
The average American throws away around 5 pounds of trash every day, according to research and lobbying group Environment America. The vast majority of this (approximately 70%) comprises packaging, nondurable goods like clothing, and durable goods like electronics, many of which could instead be repaired or recycled.
This waste, along with the energy consumed to produce the items, are creating an untenable amount of planet-warming pollution — and advertisements encourage it.
"Time to regulate the advertising industry," one person said, "heavily."
Additionally, more consumers are beginning to look into lowering their consumption, from shopping secondhand to repairing clothes, recycling durable goods — which can earn money! — and opting for non-plastic packaging when they do have to buy new.
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