[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.