Whenever I hear people complain about paywalls and having to pay for content on the Internet, I think of Gaines-Burgers. Because the advertiser-pay model is the only viable large-scale alternative to user-pay on the Internet. And my guess is that a lot of the people who prefer to see ads everywhere to paying for content don’t mind the ads because they ignore them. Um…not how the model works. If the advertisers don’t see increased sales as a result of their ads, do you think they will continue to pay to place ads and allow you to keep reading your favourite blogger for free? So not only do we have to accept advertising on the web, we also have to buy the stuff they’re advertising.
But look at the bright side – advertisers bring us lots of good stuff. Why, we owe nature itself to Mobil. Isn’t that what PBS tells us? “Nature is made possible by a grant from Mobil Corporation.”