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title: Ad blocking

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# Ad blocking 

**"Follow the [money](https://youtu.be/y6h5BUSo9Vw)."** The catchphrase popularized by [All the President's Men](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_President%27s_Men_(film)) and the [Watergate scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal) is just as applicable in today’s market of information asymmetry, particularly referring to how honest buyers and sellers can find each other in a sea of deception. Despite licenses, guarantees, and trademarks intended to establish trust between buyers and sellers, it is surprising that any business gets done at all; manipulative sellers learn new tricks faster and better. Instead, the key signaling tool is **advertiser spending.** 

Take [Vitaminwater](https://www.vitaminwater.com/), for example. Vitaminwater claims that its drinks are “nutritious” and “healthy” because they contain the recommended daily allowance of vitamins, despite being chock-full of sugar and colorful additives. Before the lawsuit settlement, many individuals believed that Vitaminwater was a “healthy drink,” not only because of its [misleading and unsubstantiated claims](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12218673), but also its widespread advertising. I hate to admit that I was one of these individuals. If Vitaminwater was willing to plaster its claims all over the Internet, on the side of buses, and in magazines, I thought the product must have been *that* good. 


![vitaminwater](https://courtroomstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Vitaminwater2.jpg)


> It is not so much the claims made by advertisers that are helpful, but the fact that they are willing to spend extravagant amounts of money on a product that is informative 


High levels of advertising spending indicate seller confidence to consumers, weeding out the low quality sellers who cannot afford such a screening mechanism. Perceived expense is not directly correlated with purchase patterns, but it is tied with brand quality which is. However, this does *not* mean that billions of dollars spent on advertising guarantees a product’s success, as signaling breaks down when sellers attempt to target specific users and when there is too much noise. 

When retargeting is obvious, users are easily turned off. They do not want marketers to have so much information about them. Sellers must find that perfect point between having an advantage over other sellers without violating buyer privacy. 


> Damned if you do, damned if you don’t 


This is my first time using an ad blocker, and I can’t say that I ever want to go back. I did not realize the extent to which I was subconsciously filtering out the noise, and I can feel the cognitive load being lifted after installing UBlock Origin. I did not have to sit dumbly, waiting for an advertisement to end before watching a YouTube video, and it allowed me to conduct my business online with more focus and clarity, as the concept of banner blindness suggests. According to [The Guardian,](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/16/major-sites-new-york-times-bbc-ransomware-malvertising) such blockers also shield devices from malware attacks, just another benefit that makes my online experience more pleasant. Without ad blockers, the environment created reminds me of a filter bubble. Do I want to be in a filter bubble created by my clicks and interests, or would I rather be entirely in the dark in a separate universe? [Adblock Plus’s](https://adblockplus.org/) notion that it helps [“pivot toward what we think is better”](https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/13/12890050/adblock-plus-now-sells-ads) is even more worrisome. What do publishers believe is “better” advertising, and do I agree with them? This invisible auto propaganda starts with personalization. The fifteen seconds that I’ve saved before a YouTube video are great, but I’m also not sure I want to contribute to the demise of independent media as a result. All these factors make me unsure if this extension will stay in my Chrome. 


### Without [ad blocker (UBlock Origin)](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en) 

![with ads](https://i.imgur.com/scAvZjM.png) 

### With [ad blocker (UBlock Origin)](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en) 

![with adblocker](https://i.imgur.com/9DUNxgm.png) 


I am a frequent shopper of [Uniqlo](uniqlo.com) so I was not surprised to see a banner of theirs pop up. I was, however, surprised by the top banner by [BlackRock](blackrock.com). I will occasionally read the financial headlines, but I did not think that it was so often that I would be targeted by a financial planning and investment management firm. Regardless, it is much easier to read my intended article. 

