From violations of privacy, to the mainpulation or even maliciousness at its core, I think marketing at it’s current state is poison to society. But I also think it might be a necessary evil. What would be a good alternative implementation of advertising look like? Or do we even need it? If the former, how would advertising look in a non-capitalist society?
And that when you do need something, you go looking for it, searching the web, asking around, doing research, comparing options… Advertising just tries to make you skip all that, and not make a considered purchase.