Tylenol may be "hazardous" when abused, but doesn't it say something that it remains over-the-counter? It suggests to me that the benefits outweigh the risks, and the same could be true of a nootropic.

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To call it a "marketing exercise" glosses over all of the important subtlety. Identifying a brand, messaging, form factor, and specific combination of ingredients to appeal to mass market is non-trivial. Isn't Red Bull just a marketing exercise? What about Chobani and Muscle Milk? The original Apple computers were just a "marketing exercise" around the Homebrew Computing Club, packaging up things that were already available, but doing so elegantly and building a trustworthy brand. There's considerable value in that.