This is part of our series on Leo Babauta’s Simple Living Manifesto. We invite you to join us on the journey.

The 50th idea in the manifesto is:

Reduce your consumption of advertising. Advertising makes us want things. That’s what it’s designed to do, and it works. Find ways to reduce your exposure of advertising, whether that’s in print, online, broadcast, or elsewhere. You’ll want much less.

Can I get an AMEN?!

Thanks Kid Rock!

And now back to our regularly scheduled post, sponsored by St. Peter’s Brewery — a novel by Jonathan D. Blundell….

Advertising’s a funny thing isn’t it?

We all hate it — until it’s our message that we want heard.

Believe me, I know. I hate seeing ads on TV, billboards, websites and more. But you’ll also notice that I have thirteen ads on this website as well.

Hypocrite, right?!

I won’t lie — I’m hoping you’ll click on the ads, buy a product or two (that I’ve personally enjoyed) and help fund this little website of mine — and maybe (if I’m lucky) pay for a few packs of diapers for our babies.

And because I hate ads, I love that folks like Leo Babauta have “ad-free” blogs.

But let me tell you a little secret…

You’ll also notice that on Zen Habits there are links right on the front page that say, “Affiliates” and “Books.”

While they’re not ads in the traditional sense, they’re links to pages that tell you how to buy Leo’s books — so he can afford to have a blog without any “ads” on it.

And I don’t fault Leo at all — he’s worked hard to build a great blog, a great audience and deserves to be compensated for his work. And personally, I think he’s got a great model to work from.

But it reminds us that if you really think about it — as much as we may hate it — we’re all advertising something.

It may be a pair of jeans, it may be our favorite t-shirt, it may be the vehicle we drive, it may even be our ideals and beliefs.

We’re all advertising something. We’re all evangelists for the things we like.

The only difference is you’re probably paying Levi Jeans to advertise their product across your backside, rather than the other way around.

But I digress.

So what am I suggesting? Should we all crawl into a hole to avoid advertising of any kind?

No. Let’s be practical.

Let’s realize that advertising is all around us — it’s a fact of life. But also realize that we can take proper steps from letting it overtake us and tempt us into consuming more and more.

• Learn to be content in all things.
• Make a list of those things you NEED each and every day. Chances are pretty high that you already have them. Anything else you see advertised on TV, in a magazine, on a billboard or on your friends’ rear-end is just a want. Know that in advance and the temptation will be that much easier to fight.
• Use an ad-blocker plugin for your web browser. Most current browsers allow plugins or extensions to improve your web experience. Download and install an ad-blocker for your browser if ads on websites are leading you in the wrong direction. Simply Google your browser name and “ad-blocker” and you’ll find plenty of options.
• Turn off the TV. Television ads are not only tempting but they can also be super annoying at times. Keep the TV off and you’ll find yourself craving a lot less. And if you “must” keep the TV on, use a DVR and only watch pre-recorded shows so you can skip past the advertisements.
• Cancel your magazine and newspaper subscriptions. I’ve noticed more and more that the vast majority of the magazine content I was receiving was nothing more than advertising. Three or four feature articles with the other 90% of the magazine filled with filler content and ads. I’ve worked in newspaper and our weekly goal was often 75-85% advertising with only 15-25% of actual news content. Trust me, publishers know what pays the bills.

So what do you think?

Does advertising even affect you?

Before you answer that let me put this in your head… “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”

Are there other ways you’ve found to reduce your consumption of advertising?

Join us!

Write a blog post about the point above and then share the link in the comments below…

keep reading...

• The Simple Manifesto #8 – Limit your media consumption
• Simple Manifesto #72: Will this decision simplify my life?
• Simple Manifesto #71: Live closer to work