In a platonic world, marketing is for getting word out to the community of a product or service. For example - "I suddenly need a back doctor and don't know any", or - "I wish there was some place in town that had organic shallots and asparagus and watercress, locally-sourced honey".

In the real world, the tool is used and abused beyond the breaking point; before we even realized how we got there, we were bombarded by insurance ads from all sides simultaneously. Political ads. Male enlargement pills. Online casinos. Pharmaceuticals, with the fast-talking asshole at the end warning about "suicidal thoughts" and "serious risk of stroke" that comes along with their shit product.

The platonic ideal of marketing is always there. There is a flow of useful information. Unfortunately, it's buried and intertwined with a flood of noise and excrement.