I agree in principle that commodifying page rank, and using trackers to identify would-be anons (to market at them or otherwise), and popups, and sponsored results, and in-content-ads, product placement, etc is all cancerous and shitty.

BUT to play devil's advocate, how is it that one should make success of their business without advertising? I agree that most things in advertisement (like I mentioned) are scum of the earth, but I disagree that all of advertising is bad. It is an okay and righteous thing to promote yourself to others, especially where you can provide value!

To go full devil's advocate (I don't believe this but could absolutely debate it) I am going to say that advertising is the pinnacle achievement of art and science. It is by far the most interesting medium of communication -- if you're like an anthropologist, and you come across some bootable server full of TV ads from 1950 to 2020, you'd learn more about society than you would from just about any other medium of art or from just about any discipline that informs anthropologists.