Done right, targeted ads have their place. There are a few (fairly niche) companies I sometimes see ads from. They are effectively a polite “We have something new, you might be interested in.”

The line, for me is between infomational ads, and manipulation ads. If their goal is to get me to buy their product, without my conscious, informed decision, then I have a big issue with them! Unfortunately most ads we get now are of the latter. I don’t need to know Starbucks exists. They want me to think of them more, so I buy more coffee from them. Fuck that noise.