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?
Money is not evil - it’s the love of money that crosses a line, pushing all other concerns to the side for the sake of that singular goal.
Advertising lets you know which products may be of interest to you, and “connects” you to places/things/products/whatever.
It’s like fat on a person. You NEED some of it, and quite frankly the human species wouldn’t survive without it (especially babies & milk), but we have managed to take a good thing and GROTESQUELY over-blow it, all out of proportion to what is needed. And then people push back, and some even go to the opposite extreme and become malnourished & bulimic.
TLDR: “All things in moderation”.