[gress]

Advertising is a service designed to help corporations exploit psychology to induce people to buy their products.

What you are describing is more like a concierge. Hint: The person who pays is the person who's interests are being served.

[digz]

Reaching consumers is hard, even if you have the superior product. Facilitating such a transaction should make one proud.

The 'psychological exploits' are a marginal component, but again, why is it inherently bad for someone to feel good about using product x over product y, even if they're exactly the same?

[forgottenpass]

Reaching consumers is hard, even if you have the superior product. Facilitating such a transaction should make one proud.

It's entirely an accident if an advertizing service facilitates that transaction. They're not consumer reports, they're boosters for whoever pays.

[gress]

Are you suggesting that advertising never influences people to make choices that are not in their best interests?