I would love to know from the rest here - isn’t a solution to the ad creep just… not buying things? Like going for second hand / refurbished, avoiding big brands for food and drink, and just not shopping online (ffs)? Or am I being naive? Enlighten me!
Of course working under the assumption that the government cannot (yet) admit to tracking us for more sinister purposes. That’s a problem for another day.


When you say “Solution” your endgoal would have to be that the ad creep ends and this isn’t done through personal consumption fir various reasons.
I start by telling you i am already participating in ethical consumption for decades you know what changed? Nothing.
I could go on and on but the main problem is that you would need a critical amount of people doing the same as you and they will not people will take the easiest way and you can be mad about it but you shouldn’t blame them. The crux of the issue is how the economy works. We need regulation that forces companies to act responsible anything else is doomed to fail. I am not saying don’t consume ethical where you can but if you want to really have an impact you need to focus on politics.
The other problem with repairing things is very often these days there’s no where to buy the parts from. You can try buying a broken version of the thing you want to fix, but you’re gambling on whether the specific part(s) you need will actually be functional. If the thing you’re trying to fix is expensive then a broken one is likely going to be in a similar price range, and if it’s not expensive there may not be anyone selling a broken one since it’s not going to be worth the time or effort.
I feel like it should be both. Purely top down decisions eventually lead to distortions and resentment (e.g. USSR). There needs to also be the grinding and mostly thankless work of shifting the cultural hegemony (this is Gramsci, and I tend to believe him).