The original comment, and your initial response, talked about advertising. The examples you give, and this response in general, are marketing. They are very different, and marketing is much broader.

It's true that they are different, but I would not say that they're very different. There is a considerable group of people here on HN who have a narrow definition of what an ad is.

Advertising and marketing are indeed two different things, but the distinction is blurry and the overlap considerable. I've read through the comment thread and it seems that advertising and marketing seem interchangeable in the way they are being talked about.

That’s jesuitical hair-splitting.