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No, that's not the textual or social contract for how advertising works. If a company starts giving away pizza but stacking tomes of ad flyers on top, it's ok to take those ads, dump them in the garbage, and eat the pizza. That's how advertising has worked on the internet for decades: "yes this content is free, pay no mind to these ads over here." Just cause you found "one weird trick" to get paid doesn't mean you own my time/attention.

Advertisers want more though, and inventory owners have drunk deep from the cash hose for so long that they want to normalize and enforce behavior that we the public have merely put-up-with till now. We as the audience are now being told that we OWE the pizza store our time and eyeballs; throwing away the ad flyer, why, that's STEALING! If you're a moral citizen, you'll sit there and read every line of copy, sing along with every jingle, watch every dancing mascot, otherwise you're a thief. We keep this up, and closing your eyes will soon be a crime.



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