The purpose of ads is to inform people of things they wouldn't otherwise know about. In that regard, I appreciate good ads that tell me about things I would want to know about and didn't already.
> The purpose of ads is to inform people of things they wouldn't otherwise know about.
I don't see how this squares with things like blatant scare mongering smearing in political ads, and things like cowboys riding a truck up Mt. Everest to crack open a beer.
Ads can be there just to associate emotional moods and undertones with a product or person, etc., and aren't only about surfacing unknown products.
The purpose of ads is to get you to buy things you wouldn’t have otherwise. The vendors aren’t interested in you being informed, that would mean considering competitive products.
You keep saying that, but that is plainly a positive spin on the purpose and not completely truthful.
If that were the purpose, why are there adverts for e.g. milk?