At The Honest Broker, Ted Gioia enumerates just a few of the ways that advertisers have abandoned attempts to persuade you and instead now run online extortion rackets to get you to pay to avoid having to see their ads:
Advertising is no longer about creativity and storytelling. Ads are now a matter of annoyance, plain and simple (as I recently described in this article).
It’s a simple concept. Web platforms force people to pay money to avoid the ads — so the more annoying they are, the more money they make.
They used to call it extortion — pay now to avoid pain later. And it always works like a charm. Needless to say you don’t need an English major to run an extortion business. (However, they do make good victims.)
This business strategy started out in media — where it made some sense. People are familiar with the idea of advertising during screen entertainment.
And here is how it played out:
- YouTube started this with the launch of an ad-free tier in 2014.
- Paramount announced an ad-supported subscription plan in June 2021.
- Disney + launched a low-price subscription option with advertising in March 2024.
- Netflix introduced a similar program in October 2022.
- Amazon Prime did the same thing in early 2024.
But in the last few months, it’s gone crazy. The ads are spreading beyond movies and videos — and into almost anything with a digital interface. So we’ve seen the following in recent days:
- Jeep drivers started complaining about ads on their vehicle touchscreen in early 2025. An ad for an extended warranty allegedly appears every time they stop their car (at a red light, etc.).
- Meta announced an ad-free subscription option for Facebook and Instagram in September 2025. (initially in the UK).
- Microsoft announced an ad-supported subscription plan for Xbox cloud gaming in October 2025.
- A rumor about Apple inserting ads into its map app started spreading in October 2025. This will allegedly launch in 2026.
This is more than annoying — it’s also abusive. A new Jeep can cost $50,000 or more. When you hand over that much cash, you should get an exemption from spam ads on your screen.
But the most annoying move of all is coming from Samsung. They are putting ads on $3,499 smart fridges. They’re rolling out this “software upgrade” right now.
According to Samsung, your smart (or maybe smart-ass) refrigerator will soon share “useful day-to-day information such as news, calendar and weather forecasts, along with curated advertisements”. The display will change every ten seconds.
I definitely rely on my fridge for some things — milk, eggs, orange juice, and an occasional cold beer. But you don’t see curated advertisements on that list.
Ads will never be on the list.
