State advertising to its own citizens was considered repellent before 1914.

Evidence

In our times, the idea of a government-run mass recruiting campaign does not sound especially controversial. Recently, the Affordable Care Act was made workable by just such an effort. But in 1914 it was unprecedented, not just in Britain, but anywhere. “That the State should advertise itself was an idea which occurred to few before the war,” concluded an official British history, “and which, had it been brought before the notice of the general public, would have seemed to them repellent.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 128

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Arc of Interference theme — the boundary of what is considered an illegitimate intrusion on the public’s time is historically contingent.