Convincing people who are happy that they have problems they need to spend money to solve for your personal benefit is morally dubious at best.
How would you let people people know that they may be prone to cancer?
How can you inform the world population that there exists coursera that teaches you skills on any imaginable subject that may change their lives?
Most people aren't looking for those categories of information.
Provide universal healthcare and continuing education for doctors.
Advertisers sure as shit aren't the answer.
HN is full of elitist arm-chair critics, whose life is so good that they need to feel persecuted by ........ Advertisements. OMG
The parent you replied to believes everybody else is unduly influenced by 'asshats' and that his/her favored influencers are not 'asshats.' As if Ezra Pound or Edmund Teller weren't 'asshats' for nuclear explosive mining, or fascism.
Dismissing advertisers for being into the 'filthy lucre?' So what should we do with all the engineers doing the same?