For me it is when companies/services market themselves as donating to XYZ cause if I buy their product. If they want to donate, they should have already done that with the money they have. Asking me to give them profit so that they can donate is so obviously pretentious.
The thing is, if I want something I’ll go looking for it. At the point where I’m looking for it or something like it, I am happy to consume ads even tangentially related to that thing. If analytics marketing worked this way (showing me relevant ads when I’m shopping for something, even if it’s for something I am not actively looking for), things would be better. But ads have worked their way into the cracks of everything and that’s my problem with them.
I hate Billboards. I don’t like circulars (waste of paper and generally too much trash), I hate junk mail and I think it’s predatory. Popups (singing, flashing, scrolling when I scroll to stay on the page, tiny exit buttons, video, etc) are garbage.
I don’t just hate them, but I’d straight up make them illegal. At least next to roads. They are specifically meant to get the attention of drivers. How can that be allowed?
If we used billboards for something like missing children or traffic announcements etc I’d be okay with that. But pretty much no actual ads for products. Billboards are a driving distraction and I don’t approve.
I think Washington state has outlawed them except for things like safety signs and I think that’s great.
This is from like 15 years ago, so maybe it’s not true anymore.