I think this is right on the nose. Advertising as it exists today is not so much about inducing customers to buy your product, as it is propaganda to convince people that your product holds a natural place in society.

When you view ads through this lens, the number of ads for things that consumers do not even directly purchase — like prescription drugs, or oil - makes a lot more sense.

▲

NooneAtAll5 a day ago | parent [-]

there are ads for oil??

	▲	autoexec a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		There are ads for oil companies https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/18/the-forg...
	▲	BigGreenJorts a day ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Saudi Aramco had ads all over the world cup.
	▲	kochikame a day ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Oil companies and gas station chains? Sure, maybe not everywhere in the world but absolutely that exists. And nowadays they're mainly trying to convince us that these companies are green and part of the zero emissions/carbon negative solution
	▲	ufo 14 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		In ads, oil companies usually call themselves "energy" companies.