Oh, I've tried. They don't turn off, nor do they sell different versions of Echo Show with ads vs. ad-free like they do with their Kindles. Most of the ads I get are to boost my engagement, asking to touch now to hear a children's joke, or touch now to see the latest news on a war, or touch to watch/learn more about watching The Expanse on Amazon Prime Video, or watch Jack Reacher on Amazon Prime video. Sometimes it will suggest some deal it found on product similar to something I already bought. I just saw one on my kitchen Echo Show for "Popular questions: Alex, who will win the TNF?"
I'm not saying it's seizure-inducing displays to buy Chocopops all the time. It just cycles away from the things I'd prefer it to show. On my nightstand, I find that annoying, especially when I select "don't show me this any more" for children's jokes, and it shows it to me immediately again. In the kitchen, it's really annoying that it won't keep the cooking timers on screen in favor of suggesting I can watch Jack Reacher (which I did watch, so I don't need to again, plus I'm cooking, keep my timers up!)
I still like the idea of them. I use them for smart home stuff all the time. I get that since they're hemorrhaging money from the Alexa division that they have to do something to change engagement. It just doesn't fully line up with my use cases.
