I've blocked ads for so long that I can't remember the last time I saw one. However, if I had to have them, I think I could tolerate ads that were relevant to the content of the page.

If I'm reading an article about gardening, I could understand seeing an ad or two about gardening tools. It's what my mind is focused on, it's relevant, and it's even potentially something I might want to buy. This doesn't require FLoC, cookies, or any other form of tracking.

What I do not want to happen after reading my gardening article, is to be dogged relentlessly for days with ads for gardening tools on every website I visit, and in apps on my phone. It's creepy, it's irrelevant to what I'm currently focused on, and it's creating a negative impression in my mind about the businesses that are appearing in the ads.

If you're going to hold a gun to my head and force me to give you the contents of my wallet, you can at least be polite about it and say please and thank you.

If I have to be on the receiving end of non-consensual sex, I at least want the perpetrator to wear protection and be STD free.

The particular phenomena at play there is an early stage of Stockholm Syndrome/learned helplessness, and it isn't a good thing. It is also a byproduct of intentioned shaping of dialogue and expectation normalization that has been an ongoing effort by Big Tech for decades.

Don't be fooled.

Surely they'd be happy to opt-in to FLoC.

There is no evidence tracking-based ads are more fruitful than contextual ads. That is what you should tell your non-tech person.