I think there's truth on both sides. I feel this is a good time to link to this article again that I believe was discussed on here some months ago: http://www.m

I think there's truth on both sides. I feel this is a good time to link to this article again that I believe was discussed on here some months ago: http://www.meltingasphalt.com/ads-dont-work-that-way/ http://www.meltingasphalt.com/ads-dont-work-that-way/ I find its theory compelling that a lot of advertising works by cultural imprinting: corporations use their power to create a presence in the public sphere which changes the underlying culture of society, and we as individuals have no choice about that. Obviously individuals can in principle just ignore and go against the prevailing culture (in sufficiently free countries, at least), but even in free countries, that's a lot harder than just going with the flow. That's just how humans are wired, and the likely fact that corporations - i.e, non-human intelligences - have such influence over us by changing the very fabric of society is a cause for concern. Like all influence it can turn out to be good or bad, but ignoring it is not an option.