Enough competitors will eventually realise that the only way to sell any units at all is to advertise, and so will start to ramp up their own efforts. Eventual

Enough competitors will eventually realise that the only way to sell any units at all is to advertise, and so will start to ramp up their own efforts. Eventually the advertising cost is in all products, and there is no cheap generic off-brand. This is already the case in cars, houses (you're paying the brokers whether directly or indirectly), jobs (the recruiter fees comes out of your salary and training budgets), etc., etc. Getting rid of "advertising" in a sector is possibly the biggest economic disruptor you could ever apply to it.