What you present is the idealized vision of how advertising should work, from the perspective of consumers. In a perfect world, advertisements would not encoura

What you present is the idealized vision of how advertising should work, from the perspective of consumers. In a perfect world, advertisements would not encourage self-destructive behaviors or gross unnecessary spending, they would simply inform potential buyers about the objective qualities (and detriments) of a given product to help the consumer make an informed decision. The reality however is that manipulative advertising is far more effective, so the free market will always select for it.