Junk mail, hating advertising

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I guess I'd forgotten hearing about it but apparently Canadians can opt out of junk mail with Canada Post. You fill out a form, sign it, and they don't deliver unaddressed mail to you. There's now a campaign (reddotcampaign.ca) to get people more involved. I was reading some comments on cbc.ca (Will you be putting a red dot on your mailbox?) and someone mentioned that they always use the self-addressed envelopes given out by banks to return empty envelopes to waste the bank's time. Would that really be effective? I wonder how many people do it, and how many it would take for the banks (or whomever) to get the hint.

Ok, that's it! I'm going to write letters to anyone who advertises with unsolicited mail. To be truthful, all advertising annoys me. I mean, do not the sane and learned trust only their own ability to judge whether a product is one they want? Who is so moved by ads that they feel they must go and purchase it, based on an AD?! All advertising is garbage, pure waste, I thus declare it. I cannot think of a good reason for them to exist. TV ads? Oh, to fund the programs we already pay for (via cable fees)? Sales flyers? If I really wanted something, I'd go to the store's website to check prices. Oh man, don't even get me started with real estate agents, car dealers... oh they're all just awful.

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