People aren’t rational, they lack awareness, and even when they are aware of a new behavior they are hesitant to change behavior unless there are significant si

People aren’t rational, they lack awareness, and even when they are aware of a new behavior they are hesitant to change behavior unless there are significant signals from media & peers that the new behavior will bring value . Besides all of this, the cognitive load of being aware of every possible new behavior, activity and product in the world would be overwhelming. I’m not advocating for more advertising (i live somewhat of an ascetic lifestyle myself), nor soft or hard paternalism. But assuming people will be able to discover and adopt high value behaviors without advertising (or other outside influence) is preposterous.