That example doesn't work, though. Follow the chain back to its source: how did ChefSteps get its first customers for its first product? And that question ends up being critical because it's kind of silly to use as an example a product that is from a company with existing direct-marketing channels with existing customers and existing relationships with what are functionally marketing venues (and while I like Dave Arnold and Cooking Issues a lot, it's in many ways a marketing venue--mostly for Arnold's own stuff, but for the occasional interesting-to-him product too, ChefSteps's guy wasn't going on there just to chat).

Advertising can and regularly is done well; Giant Bomb, a CBSi joint, never takes ads for games or game-related accessories on their podcasts and the hosts don't endorse the product when they do the ad. I don't think an astroturfed universe (which is the inevitable end result of "oh, no advertising"--see the profusion of "native advertising" for similar) is a better universe.