I think you put the split at the wrong point. It's not just what is being advertised; it's also how. Take lite beer, for example. Ignoring the issue of wheth

I think you put the split at the wrong point. It's not just what is being advertised; it's also how. Take lite beer, for example. Ignoring the issue of whether beer fits into your "vice" category, you could make a case for benign advertising of lite beer: "Hey, there's this kind of beer that has less calories than regular beer. If you like beer but worry about the calories, maybe this is for you." Or you can have malignant advertising for it: "Drink this brand of lite beer, and all the pretty girls will be all over you. Drink some other brand and you'll be all alone like a loser." Stealing a quote, from which I don't have the source handy: This kind of advertising tries to make the person you are envy the person you could be with their product. In other words, it tries to steal your satisfaction and then offers to sell it back to you. That's malignant no matter what the product is.