I don't buy this line of reasoning. It doesn't explain the vast majority of ads. Most ads you've seen are for products you - and everybody else - knows about a

I don't buy this line of reasoning. It doesn't explain the vast majority of ads. Most ads you've seen are for products you - and everybody else - knows about already. They aren't informing anybody of anything. We also don't see this behavior in advertising strategy. It's not an irregular campaign trying to reach unique individuals. Instead, you tend to see the same ad over, and over, and over in a short period of time. Companies are often extremely transparent about this kind of behavior. This is not anything like the behavior you would find if ads were at all attempting to merely inform people about a product.