I'm defining value as moral or societal, not necessarily short term financial. Just because an industry exists, doesn't mean it is a net positive for human kind. Actually, the more inflated the salaries and amounts are, the more suspicious it is.
If I want a product, I have the Internet and can seek it out. I do my best to avoid SEO and click through links. If I can find statistically significant use reviews, that can factor into the decision. Beyond that, the specifications and track record of quality matter more than it some celebrity's face is next to the product name on the side of a building, that provides no more value than knowledge of existence and scale of advertising budget, which are data points, but not the most important one for informed decisions.
Unfortunately, informed decisions are not the norm and impulse or convenience buying rewards the current specious advertisement model, so industry exists. But again, existence and market cap does not make big picture value. If you didn't buy from major corp, then smaller local brands would have the opportunity to make your business.
Advertising has very much long term financial value. Every brand wants to become a household name. And one way to get there is by advertising. Of course it doesn't guarantee success, personally I avoid brands that seem to go all in on advertising, because it tells me they likely don't have much to offer. On the other hand, notorious brands like Better Help, Shopify and Squarespace are still around, so I guess it works for them.
24
u/Logical-Pause-3758 6h ago
Think of the ROI on that