> People need to have the capacity to find things.

There's a previous step: People need to know that there is such a thing to find.

Some advertising (I'll call it "base" advertising, though there may be a better term) is just information. "Hey, everybody, there's this new thing called a mobile phone!" "Hey, everybody, there's this new disease called AIDS that you really had better alter your behavior to avoid, because it's deadly."

There's a second kind, which I will call "us" advertising: "Hey, everybody, we have the best mobile phones! Available now at WalMart!"

We don't need the second kind, at all. I'm not sure, but I suspect the first kind is at least somewhat useful.

(You can still probably call it harassment, though. Useful, but still harassment.)