A huge distinguishing characteristic is that some of these things come to you, or are found passively, and some of them you seek out. I think that when the ad comes to you, there is a very good chance it has little or no value.

Job listings are useful, but I have to seek them out.

An event calendar is something I seek out.

Product descriptions are only shown to me when I seek details about the product.

An ad on the street is somewhere in the middle. For most people the acceptability of it is about setting (not in a nature park, please), and ignorability (LCD billboard vs. telephone pole flyer).

I think that is the distinction that people are making between marketing and what is being called ads.

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koliber 6 days ago | parent [-]

I think you hit the nail on the head - people tend to think of push (outbound) marketing as "ads" while they don't think as much about passive ads.

It's true that it's harder to do push / outbound marketing in a way that does not feel annoying. I've seen it done and it seemed like the company was reading my mind in a good constructive way. That's rare though.

	▲	dghlsakjg 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		It can definitely be done in a way that people don’t mind/accept. People love movie trailers to the point of seeking out good ones and sharing them. People have come to accept that broadcast media will have ads, but get very annoyed when ads are inserted where they are not expected (ads during an ad break are ok, sports betting ads mid play annoy the shit out of me).