[cm2012]

It produces a lot of value when products are actually used as opposed to unused

[ndriscoll]

It's easy to find plenty of counterexamples: cigarettes, Teflon pans, soda, cheap children's clothing with elevated lead, etc. And that's before we get into crypto scams, MLM schemes, etc.

[cm2012]

Sure, bad products are bad. So shouldn't promoting good products be good?

[ndriscoll]

Sure, but if you're taking kickbacks to promote something, it's a near certainty that's not what you're doing.

Like in this thread you have people asking what about retailers that take money for product placement, or how will people find products without ads? It's apparently inconceivable that retailers spotlight actual high quality products that they believe in and they do some industry research into what they should carry and actually stand by what they're selling instead of treating their customers like suckers to be sold.

[martin-t]

No, it produces money, not value, and not for society but for the company which spends on advertising instead of spending on improving the product.

Meanwhile this forces other brands in the same category to also spend on advertising even if they have a better product, thus increasing the cost.

[cm2012]

Every single human endeavor since the beginning of time has had to balance making something vs selling it.

[martin-t]

Sure. And some have the slider set all the way to selling. And that's wrong. As a society, we tolerate it because we have limited energy to fight it and because the good people are all busy making stuff.

[genewitch]

import more land fill