Jonathon Delacour Unplugged:
Dean's argument In Defense of Advertising can be summarized as: Advertising deserves respect because large numbers of talented people expend enormous creative effort to communicate the virtues of products and services, and in doing so they underpin not just the market economy but freedom and democracy too.
I read Dean's piece. The efforts he extols are not infrequently applied in the service of convincing people to purchase things that diminish (physically or virtually) their own or others' lives.
I think the main point being missed is that half the upset is not directly about the advertising. It's about the products. I thought one of the key quotes was:
Some ads, of course, are terrible. Yet there are other forms of advertising which are so good, so creative, so wonderful they become a part of the vernacular, a part of the fabric of everyday life. There are also cases in which the ad campaigns prove to be superior to the actual products. (my emphasis)
Advertising that gets into our vernacular is profoundly successful, and quite often remains associated with the product. Even an ad far less successful might be convincing many people to buy and use harmful things.
There is also criticism of advertising itself, but this is little different from criticism of non-selling media.
All that said, i'll admit i get lazy sometimes and say ads are bad, rather than applying Sturgeon's Law appropriately: 90% of everything is crap. And what are we here for? To create all 100% so that we can get the 10%. The real secret though is if you can figure out to enjoy some of the 90%.
9:47:02 PM 
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