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However much I despise adverts and go to great lengths to avoid them it's also true to say that I could recite all the ads of my favourite podcasts. They have been pounded into my consciousness so often that I can't do anything about it if I want to listen. On the other hand, I refuse to ever purchase any of those items on principle. Advertisers can eat my refuse.
I would say that the vast majority of products shouldn't need advertising if they're good products. Good products sell themselves, good products are sought after by buyers, they don't need marketing and gimmicks.
Agree. We seem to have got into an advertising arms race where one manufacturer seeks to gain an advantage by advertising and the competitors are compelled by shareholders, etc, to meet the challenge. In this scenario there's no upper limit on the product advertising that is sought by the vested interests. That's capitalism baby.
How can you buy a product you don't know exists though?
Do you really need it then?
I don't need most of my worldly possessions, but they do make my life more comfortable.
If it's really good, people will talk about it, word of mouth spreads pretty fast and far.
How did those people find out about it?
The producer. They begin by telling the people they know.
For a lot of things, this is true. I've never understood the enormous marketing budget for cars, for example. Who the hell is spending tens of thousands of dollars without doing research?
On the other hand, there are plenty of things that don't warrant that much research, and have an overwhelming number of alternatives. There are also things I just don't care about enough to talk about with friends. Like clothes and shoes.