Sometimes I want to sell people their own best life, for free. But this idea is hard to fund ads for. Advertisements commonly are designed and paid for to drive product purchase. How might campaigns change if advertising agencies switched from selling products to promoting great choices?

Drink Tasty Soda ⇒ Drink Tap Water

Tastes great, no calories, and nearly-free!
#1 Weight loss supplement for over 1,000 years!
Hot or cold, it heals headaches and fevers!
Goes great with any food!
The idea that the default beverage should have nearly half the calories of the meal itself without any nutrients doesn’t make much sense from a health perspective. Water doesn’t give you the taste and sugar rush of soda but I find it results in more happiness after the first hour.

Watch the Season Premier ⇒ Look at Old Photos

Going through memories gives one a sense of place, reminders of positive emotions and distracts from current problems and issues. Maybe they’d even inspire you to call and reconnect with friends and relatives, gaining you the close connections that happy people have. Note: Facebook actually does this, filling some ad space with old friends’ photos.

Buy Clothes ⇒ Exercise

Makes you feel great and look better whatever you wear. Also prolongs life and costs less than a monthly shopping trip.

Be Connected Anywhere/Anytime ⇒ Limit Checking Email to a Few Times a Day

An electronic fast can have similar benefits to a food one: a sense of distance and control, more time/focus for other things, better planning, and more thoughtful action.

Drive in Style ⇒ Bike Exhilarated, Relax on Public Transportation

If your commute route permits, either pedaling a bike or sitting back on public transportation can be a better option than driving an expensive car to an elusive parking spot.

Buy This to Be Cool ⇒ Don’t Give a Fig to Be Cool

No matter how many cool gadgets someone has, if they don’t have an iNewest they are behind. However, somehow magically, if you just don’t care to begin with, you devalue all the possessions and appear cooler! Who knew. This approach is quite scalable as indifference can be applied to everything except fundamental, physical needs.

Sometimes I imagine a world where most of advertising is done by Consumer Reports http://www.consumerreports.org/, a non-proft that provides scientific, unbiased reviews of many products. I think their aggressive pursuit of truth, to the degree that they don’t accept gifts or advertisements to maintain impartiality, is something unique and special and deserving of replication.

I’ve realized a centralizing theme of my dissents is this: All these ads try to exchange money for feelings. But the tough reality is that you often have to exchange effort for feelings if you want them to last.

Ah, there’s the rub.

Or some of it. What am I missing?