Advertising companies do not act in the interests of consumers. We're not their customers. Any benefit is totally coincidental. The following would be helpfu

Advertising companies do not act in the interests of consumers. We're not their customers. Any benefit is totally coincidental. The following would be helpful to us: - "These products from a different company look more like what you're after" - "Based on your income/debt/bills, you probably shouldn't buy this" - "A better version of this will be out in a few days, just wait!" - "This product explodes, buy this other one instead" Of course advertising companies will never do this, because it would be acting against the interest of their actual customers (companies). Can I even hire an ad firm to help me shop? The very idea sounds ridiculous. It's just not what advertising is for. Advertising exists only to convince more people to buy goods and services. It specifically employs devices to do this even if: - the consumer doesn't want or need them - the consumer can't afford them - the consumer could get a better deal or product elsewhere - the product is defective Advertising is really good at reframing this stuff (your post is a pretty good example of it actually), but given these facts I don't know how to think of advertising in positive light.