You seem to say that as if it were the only way to build an audience. There have been disruptors and innovators out there long before targeted advertising becam

You seem to say that as if it were the only way to build an audience. There have been disruptors and innovators out there long before targeted advertising became a thing. Targeted ads gave us none of the things you mentioned, it merely gave them highly-effective ad targeting. But a company can still buy TV ad spots, they can still spread via word-of-mouth or grassroots campaigns, they can still hire people to canvas and pitch, nowadays they can still go viral. I agree with GP that ads are manipulation, and that we cannot give ad people (or any people, really) tools that are too good in this area. Literally every big company in existence today started small, disrupting or innovating or just effectively competing at something. Yet somehow they managed to become what they are without targeted advertising?