Profound. Thanks for sharing this. That really frames what I’ve been struggling to describe. Advertising isn’t some necessary lifeblood of many industries. It can often be something like the endless trench warfare between Pepsi and Coke, vying for slivers of mindshare.

I also think that advertising is often a crutch for incompetence. Build a good product and it can take off all on its own. People advertise for you. Or build crap and hire an industry to manipulate people into wanting your crap. Advertising is manipulation. Watch any ad and ask, “what emotion are they trying to con me into feeling?”