If I want something, I will go look for information about how to get it. If you want to call the information I have sought out "advertising", I suppose you can do that, though I would call it "reviews" or "datasheets", or perhaps at the most extreme "marketing materials".

What I object to is the practice of tricking people into wanting things they otherwise felt no desire for by putting advertisements for them in places they will be seen while the victim is trying to do something else. Billboards are a blight, radio and TV ads are an intrusion, web banners are a nuisance. I filter them all out of my life as hard as I can, because I don't want people getting into my head and making me desire things I don't need, which I would then have to give them money for. Ye olde hedonic treadmill never stops spinning, you know? Making a living by telling people to feel less satisfied with their lives, so they will want to buy whatever you are selling, does not seem very honorable.